Tanzania and Rwanda have agreed to commence work this year on the Isaka-Kigali standard gauge railway project in a development that now puts the proposed Mombasa-Kigali standard gauge railway plan in limbo.

The 400-kilometre railway is aimed at connecting the landlocked Rwanda to the port of Dar es Salaam to ease movement of cargo between the two countries.

The agreement was disclosed on Sunday after a meeting between Tanzanian President John Magufuli and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame who was in Dar es Salaam for a one-day state visit.

“We want foreign ministers from the two countries to meet next week to chart out the financing model. Construction [should] start immediately because the feasibility studies and all other preparations are complete,” said President Magufuli.

“President Kagame and I want to unveil the foundation stone to usher the construction this year,” he added. “[We] are ready to look for loans to speed up the construction,” President Magufuli said.

Tanzania has already started work in two phases on a railway line from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro spanning 330 kilometres, and from Morogoro to Makutupora in Dodoma covering 426 kilometres, using locally sourced funds totalling about Sh325 billion ($3.15 billion), according to President Magufuli.

Rwanda was originally part of a 1,500-kilometre railway running from Mombasa to Kigali through Kampala but the country later abandoned the plan, although no official statement has been made about the changes.

In May 2016, Rwandan Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete was quoted by Kenyan media as saying that Kigali had opted out of the project in favour of the “shorter and cheaper” Tanzania route.

Rwanda estimated that it will cost Sh100 billion to build the railway on the Kenyan route and Sh80 billion to Sh90 billion on the Tanzanian route.

The report sparked panic among Kenyan government officials, especially since it came shortly after Uganda said it would build a pipeline for its oil through Tanzania rather than Kenya.

This prompted the Transport secretary James Macharia to announce that Kenya would build its railway up to Kisumu or Naivasha as extension of the line to Malaba would no longer be necessary if landlocked states pulled out.

But in a swift attempt to save the situation executive director of Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority Donat Bagula issued a statement to clarify that the Rwandan minister had been misquoted by the media, adding that Rwanda was still on course to link its railway to Mombasa.

Source: Construction Kenya

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