Mombasa island’s transport infrastructure will never be the same again after completion of the Standard Gauge Railway in June. The railway will solve the city’s crazy traffic and congestion at Likoni Ferry, the only crossing into South Coast. The Government reckons that the completion of the SGR and a host of other link roads in the South Coast, will be a gamechanger. The Jubilee flagship project will be launched on June 1, 18 months ahead of schedule. The network connects Kenya’s largest sea port with the hinterland, a feat first achieved more than 100 years ago. The project cost just over Sh380 billion.
Releasing details of the big launch, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said recently: “Our approach is to have an integrated transport system. We can’t do one aspect of it and leave out the rest. The sea ports, the airport and the railway must all be linked to ease accessibility.” He says the completion of the railway project will cut movement of goods from the port by road by an estimated 40 per cent. “We will move 22 million tonnes of cargo. Up from around 2 million tonnes every year,” Macharia says.
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