DESIGNA MAGAZINE DESIGNA ISSUE III 2019 2 | Page 37

A year after the Cabinet approval of the project on 12th
August, 2009 the then Ministry of Transport and China
Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a state-owned
Chinese company signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for the latter to undertake
feasibility study and preliminary designs on phase 1 of the
SGR.
SGR was conceived as a �agship project under the Kenya
Vision 2030 development agenda, the SGR as critical to
the growth of Kenya and regional economies. And on 1st
October, 2009, the governments of Kenya and Uganda
signed a MoU for construction of the SGR from
Mombasa to Kampala. �e SGR took a regional
dimension after the signing of this MoU with Uganda. On
28th August, 2013 Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda
governments signed a Tripartite Agreement committing to
fast track the development of the railway to their respective
capital cities. South Sudan has since come on board as an
interested stakeholder in the project.
Regional economic interests therefore worked in favour of
the project. In this regard, the SGR line will snake its way
from the port of Mombasa to Kigali through Kampala
with a branch line to Juba. In Kenya there will be a branch
line to Kisumu from Eldoret. As a necessary transport
mode, the project is therefore a key component of the
Northern Corridor. Kenya vigorously pursued the
development of the �rst phase of the SGR from Mombasa
to Nairobi and the Mombasa –Nairobi was completed and
commenced operation in April 2017. �e Kenya Railways
Corporation (KRC) is the implementing agency of the
SGR, while China Road and Bridge Corporation is the
contractor (KBRC).
From the beginning this was no ordinary project. Kenya
government was not deluding itself that a project of this
magnitude could be implemented purely with G.O.K
funding. �e Cabinet therefore approved the project as
government-to-government �nanced project. �e �rst
phase of the project was estimated to cost Ksh 327 billion.
China E�im Bank �nancing the project after Kenya and
China signed a �nancial agreement on 11th May, 2014.
�e E�im Bank share of funding was 90 per cent, while
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June 2019 | D E S I G N A