On January 11, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia was in Mombasa to receive the first batch of locomotives for the standard gauge railway. The railway is one of Jubilee’s flagship projects. The CS spoke to Nation writer MATHIAS RINGA in Mombasa on some of the government’s projects at the Coast. What is the progress of the Sh372 billion standard gauge railway (SGR)? I am glad to announce that the civil works on the 472km railway line from Mombasa to Nairobi was completed in November last year. We have already received the first six locomotives from China. In total, the government will receive 56 of them. The President will commission the railway on June 1. What will be the impact of this project on Mombasa port and in particular evacuation of cargo? Also, comment on how the railway will be operated. The railway will boost transportation of cargo from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi and decongest the port. Following the commissioning of the first phase of the second container terminal last year, container handling capacity at the port increased from 1.1 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) to 1.65 million TEUs. Transportation of cargo from Mombasa to Nairobi will take between six and eight hours compared to 20 hours by road while passengers will take four hours to get to Nairobi. The railway will also reduce transport costs. Regarding operations, the government has already identified John Holland Ltd based in Australia to operate the railway services. To sustain the services, 2,000...

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has urged the Council of Ministers to act decisively in checking what it called “fraudulent procurement processes” that are allegedly dogging the EAC Secretariat based in Arusha, Tanzania. Besides calling for the central decision-making and governing organ of the East African Community (EAC) to consider enacting a law on financial and procurement management as a necessity, the regional lawmakers also recommended strict compliance with the EAC financial rules and regulations and want punitive action taken against officials who violate rules and procedures. This came up as lawmakers debated a 27-page report of the Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges on the matter of investigation of procurement of group life insurance Company for the Community. During debate, in Kampala, yesterday, there were mixed reactions although a majority lawmakers spoke strongly against alleged scams at the Secretariat, the executive organ of the Community, which is mandated to ensure that regulations and directives adopted by the Council are properly implemented. MP Abubakar Zein (Kenya) said what he read in the report was “akin to fraud, theft and defrauding the Community.” “Delay [in procurement as reported] was part of an orchestrated design. This is choreographed theft,” Zein said. “The management also ignored the legal advice of the Counsel to the Community and in so doing put the Community and those who serve it at risk.” The EAC Secretary-General, Amb. Libérat Mfumukeko, insisted that during his new term, since last year, he focused efforts on putting things right. Mfumukeko...

Since January 02, signs of bird flu were detected in Uganda where fishermen reported “mass death of wild birds” on the shores of Lake Victoria, near Entebbe, which lies near the capital Kampala. Burundi is on alert. The director in charge of animal health in the Burundian ministry of agriculture and livestock, Mr. Nsanganiyumwami Déogratias says they are aware of the presence of the disease in East African Community since Monday 16th January 2017. “We held a meeting with the minister and competent experts to impose measures to protect people against any contamination”, he says. “Uganda is not very far from Burundi and there are comings and goings of people and merchandises between the two countries. Our experts are working hard to adopt preventive measures against bird flu, which will be communicated soon”. According to Nsanganiyumwami, it is not easy to recognize the disease when it has attacked birds. He, however, advises people especially farmers, to inform immediately veterinarians in case there is a dead chicken. Bird flu also called avian flu/influenza is an infectious disease that spreads very fast among birds and can kill them. It can be transmitted to human beings, causing severe respiratory diseases that may result in death. Its symptoms in humans can vary and range from “typical” flu symptoms (fever, sore throat, muscle pain) to eye infections and pneumonia. The disease caused by the H5N1 virus is a particularly severe form of pneumonia that leads to viral pneumonia and multiorgan failure in many people who...

Uganda said the first phase of a railway designed to improve connections between the landlocked East African country and three of its neighbours will cost $2.3 billion (Sh236.9 billion). Chinese contractors are expected to begin construction later this year. China Harbour Engineering Company is preparing to start building the 273-kilometre (170-mile) standard-gauge section that will link Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and the Kenyan border, a phase that will take 40 months to complete, project coordinator Kasingye Kyamugambi said in an e-mailed response to questions on January 13. Uganda is borrowing money from the Export-Import Bank of China for the project with details still being finalised, he said, declining to comment on the size of the loan. The new development is a major boost to Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project, whose viability had been threatened by Uganda’s earlier decision to bolt out of a joint venture on the project. It appears Exim Bank, the financier of both the Kenyan and Ugandan lines, are keen on seeing through the whole line between the two countries. “Recently, Uganda went to engage the China Exim Bank and one of the conditions they were given is that Uganda and Kenya must appoint one operator to carry out maintenance of SGR between Mombasa and Kampala for the bank to consider any financing,” Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina was quoted saying by one of the local dailies recently. The Ugandan line is being constructed by China Harbour Engineering Company, a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company...

Kenya’s import bill for the 10 months to October last year went down significantly, offering much-needed reprieve to the country’s balance of payments. The decline saw the country’s trade deficit decline by 13.2 per cent to Sh705 billion - the lowest since 2012, according the latest figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). “In 2016, improvement in trade deficit reading was mainly driven by an 8.8 year-on-year drop in imports,” commented the Standard Investment Bank in a statement to newsrooms. The drop in imports was driven by reduced purchases of transport equipment which averaged 10.4 per cent of total imports in 2016 compared with 16.3 per cent in 2015. During the period under review, the imposition of higher excise taxes on cars hit the car importation business hard. Volume of vehicles sold last year plunged 30 per cent, with the industry selling about 13,535 units compared to 19,523 units a year earlier. In October last year, the National Treasury removed excise tax on locally assembled vehicles, opting to charge 20 per cent of a used imported vehicle’s value instead of the flat fee of Sh200,000. The decline in imports of transport equipment proved a double-edged sword, with the taxman collecting less revenue from importation of motor vehicles. Besides oil, which constitutes about 22.4 per cent of Kenya’s total imports, the country also imports cars, delivery trucks, tractors and bi-wheel vehicles such as motorbikes. Transport equipment comprises about 6.3 per cent of the country’s total imports. Most of the...

In Summary Plans are at an advanced stage for the construction of a Sh6.1 billion six-lane super highway from Jomvu to Mombasa The Government also plans to construct a dual carriageway of four lanes from Jomvu to Mariakani at a cost of Sh11 billion. The projects are expected to improve accessibility to businesses in Mombasa mainland west and the town as well as port activities in the county. A faster pathway for trucks and an efficient rail network look set to change the image of Mombasa port as Kenya steps up efforts to improve the regional facility. Plans are at an advanced stage for the construction of a Sh6.1 billion six-lane super highway from Jomvu to Mombasa to speed up movement of goods and passengers. The Government also plans to construct a dual carriageway of four lanes from Jomvu to Mariakani at a cost of Sh11 billion. The 11.7km Jomvu-Mombasa superhighway will be constructed along the Northern Corridor between Mombasa and Mariakani weighbridge to address traffic congestion on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway. The government wants to turn the single-two roadway into a dual carriageway with six lanes to ease transportation of cargo from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi and neighbouring countries of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The superhighway is also expected to improve accessibility to businesses in Mombasa mainland west and the town as well as port activities in the county. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the government was in negotiations with African Development Bank...

President Yoweri Museveni has urged the East African Legislative Assembly to force foreigners to develop the region by passing policies that will protect the region's markets. "We need to stop the importation of second hand clothes so that we can develop our textile industries," said Museveni. "When you buy second hand clothes, then you are promoting and improving the economy of the country that produces them." President Museveni urged the assembly and other organs working on the region's integration process to work, support and fast track the East African political integration because it is important for the region's strategic security and a guarantor of the future safety and security of the area. Addressing the 5th session of the 3rd Assembly of the East African Legislative Assembly at Parliamentary buildings in Kampala, Museveni noted that just like economic integration is important for the economic prosperity of the region, political federation is very crucial for strategic security of the region as well as for guaranteeing the safety of the future generations especially against the emerging world giants who continue to compete for the limited world resources. "Our current administrative structures are fragmented and very weak and we have no choice but to unite and safeguard our destiny. What will you do for example if a modern China, with its big population, becomes imperialistic in the future and want to occupy parts of Africa?" he wondered. He said the community is wealthy with a population of 162 million including South Sudan which all...

The U.S. may be a global superpower, but when it comes to trade and investment in Africa, it lags far behind. China, with $200 billion in trade with the continent, more than doubles that of the U.S. That means that while Africans paid attention to the U.S. presidential election, they were much more concerned by a slowdown in China's economy. "U.S. dynamics are far less important to us than what's happening in China," said Francois Conradie, head of research at NKC African Economics, a South African subsidiary of Oxford Economics based in Cape Town. "The biggest risk for us is Chinese demand slowing down sharply." FILE - U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in Washington, Aug. 5, 2014. During his presidency, Barack Obama made it a priority to try and narrow the trade gap between the U.S. and China. In 2012, he launched the Doing Business in Africa Campaign to help make the U.S. Government's trade resources more easily available to the U.S. private sector, and African public and private partners. In September 2016, he hosted the U.S. Africa Business Forum in New York where he announced $9 billion in private trade and investment with Africa. He said U.S. foreign direct investment in African countries rose by 70 percent during his time in office. "I think the key to his legacy is that he has brought trade and investment to the forefront of the U.S.-Africa policy agenda," said Witney Schneidman, senior international adviser for Africa at Covington...

IN SUMMARY Agreement was reached during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent visit to the country last week. Kenya has struck a deal with India to boost maritime surveillance and share security intelligence amid raging boundary disputes and growing global terrorism threats. The agreement, reached during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s two-day visit to India last week, means that the two countries will share white shipping information and conducting joint hydrographic surveys. White shipping agreements enable partner states to establish an information network allowing their navies to exchange information about ships in their oceanic territories. Under the protocol, ships will be colour-coded based on their use — commercial, military or illegal — in efforts to enhance response against threats, offer quicker decisions and authorisation of different vessels. Hydrographic surveys involve measurement and description of features affecting maritime navigation, dredging, offshore oil drilling, maritime construction and related activities. “Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in areas of maritime surveillance, maritime security; sharing of white shipping information and joint hydrographic surveys,” reads the India-Kenya joint statement prepared by their Foreign Affairs ministries. In September last year, two Indian warships docked at the Kenyan coast in what was seen as an official signal to renew maritime security cooperation between the two states. Share experiences At the time, officials said the naval vessels were on a mission to share experiences in combating threats of maritime terrorism and piracy with Kenyan security agencies. In 2014, three Indian warships visited Mombasa as part of an overseas deployment. In February last...

East African Community (EAC) partner states will be legally obliged to collectively promote participation of women and men in regional trade and sustainable economic growth, while considering gender dimensions to personal safety in cross border trade once a new Bill is passed this month. The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is sitting in Kampala, Uganda to, among others; consider the EAC Gender Equality and Development Bill, 2016, which makes provision for gender equality, protection and development in many aspects of the EAC’s integration agenda. The draft seen by The New Times partly indicates that in the process of engendering trade, countries shall: support national and regional associations of women in business; address gender and non-tariff trade barriers; and ensure gender analysis in diagnostic trade integration studies and other trade impact assessments. Francine Uwera Havugimana, second vice chairperson at the Private Sector Federation (PSF), in Kigali, is concerned by how the culture myth harming women will be deflated. “As we all know that women are starting freshly, my opinion would be to set a proper policy supporting women in this long and hard journey in order to avoid disappointment,” Havugimana told The New Times on Monday. “For example, putting in place a strong policy that is well regulated where by 30% is applied for gender equality as minimum share in procurement, loan in big project, or joint venture with government in big projects for development. I think this will be the only way to build this trust among women and in...