NAIROBI, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- After a ride on Kenya's newly-launched Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), Nairobi Railway Museum guide Daniel Shikoli felt an urge to tell visitors what it meant for the country to run a new, modern rail link after a century-long hiatus in rail projects. Like Shikoli, Kenyans have good reason -- and ample opportunities -- to be excited. A trip by the Chinese-built SGR linking the port city of Mombasa and the capital Nairobi takes less than five hours for an otherwise tedious journey either by road or by a colonial-era railway. Kenya Railways currently operates one daily service from Nairobi to Mombasa and another from Mombasa to Nairobi and is looking into the possibility of increasing the frequency of trains. "It's so nice. The trip took only more than four hours," said Shikoli, who was among the first Kenyans to ride on the modern train. Shikoli's one-off experience with the SGR came about thanks to a reward ticket from Kenya Railways which runs the Nairobi Railway Museum. But soon, his encounter with the new railway will become long running -- the museum has dedicated a room to the SGR and is in preparations to put the SGR section on show. He said many newly-weds in Nairobi would visit the museum to avail themselves of the ages-old locomotives on display as a setting for their pre-wedding photograph. And a large number of school children patronize the museum for extended learning of history. "They'll have more to see...

The East African Community countries in conjunction with public and private production companies in the countries have considered a ban on import of new shoes and second hand shoes after signing of memoranda awaiting Head of States signatures in bid to conserve, utilize, improve local production, supplies and sales among the member countries. “The challenge we have had previously that has been in the center to undermine local production is fear for competition between public and private leather production companies. It is good that we realised that we can do much better if we work together hence the move to have the memoranda signed,” acknowledged Mr.Robert Njoka, Director REDDAMAC Leather Centre. This emerged during a press briefing by stakeholders in the industry after Kenya Prison Service Officers were awarded for excellence after successfully completing 3 months special training within the sector. The move is aimed at seeing public and private companies in the industry work together to improve and increase production locally to boost the members countries economy. Three months ago, the Kenyan government partnered with one of the leather manufacturing pioneer company locally that saw selected prison officers go through extensive training in Management, Manufacturing and Equipment service and maintenance. The officers from Athi River and Kamiti Maximum Prisons are now tasked with training as many prisoners as possible to boost production in the Kenyan leather industry. Source: Citizen Digital

Kenya's Mombasa port on Friday launched three China-aided container scanners to enhance efficiency in cargo clearance. Speaking during the launch ceremony, John Njiraini, Commissioner General of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), said the newly-installed non-intrusive cargo scanners include two fixed units and a mobile one, which will enhance KRA's capacity to scan all cargo of interest from a risk management perspective. "Presently we scan about 500 containers every day and expect to increase this to about 750 containers or approximately 30 percent of all cargo with the newly-installed equipment," he said. Njiraini recalled his visit to China's Shanghai and the port there. "I've seen how they use technology to facilitate customs process. There's no people at the big port and all the work is done automatically," he said, adding that Kenya will continue deepening engagement with China in utilization of customs clearance technology. The Kenya official also expected the scanners to better facilitate business flow, clamp down on smuggling and thus generate more revenue. Guo Ce, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, said he hoped the three advanced container scanners could help Mombasa port operate more efficiently and safely, so to drive local economic development and spur Kenya's economic growth. He said with the two countries' economic cooperation deepening and expanding, areas adjacent to China-driven mega flagship projects are becoming a booming economic belt, where accelerated growth and investment have led to revitalized development in Kenya. Guo said China's two centenary goals mirror the aspirations of Kenya's...

East Africa’s two leading economies, Kenya and Tanzania, recorded a drop in growth in the first quarter of this year, due to a slowdown in manufacturing, agriculture and construction sectors. Tanzania The Tanzanian economy slowed down to 5.7 per cent between January and April, compared with 6.8 per cent over the same period last year. Kenya recorded 4.7 per cent growth in Quarter 1, down from 5.9 per cent in the same period of 2016. Data from the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics shows that the country’s construction sector slowed down to 8.4 per cent from 8.9 per cent a year ago, while growth in the transport sector almost halved — to 4.1 per cent from 7.9 per cent. “During the period under review, mining and quarrying registered the highest growth rates of 35.3 per cent, followed by information and communications at 13.8 per cent. The surge in growth of the mining sector was as a result of increased production of gold, tanzanite, copper and coal,” the statistics agency said last week. Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer and also has vast deposits of coal, uranium and gemstones. But in recent months, it has clamped down on what it termed as exploitation of its minerals by mining firms, which saw the country’s largest gold miner Acacia slapped with a $190 billion tax bill. The country also saw its agriculture sector slow down to 2.6 per cent, a 0.1 per cent drop from last year’s figures, due to poor weather. Tanzania...

Container ship average working time at the port of Mombasa improved by half a day to record 1.93 days in the week ended August 16, Kenya Ports Authority said in a statement yesterday. This was an improvement from 2.55 days registered the previous week. KPA also indicates that container dwell time at the port dropped marginally to 4.35 days, down from 4.85 days the previous week. “A total of 10 container ships went alongside both the existing and the new container terminal two to discharge 11,449 Twenty Feet Equivalent Units (TEUs) full and empty and also loaded for export another 9,230 TEUs,” during the week under review, the statement added. A total of 10,438 TEUs were delivered out of the port through road transport marking an increase of 1,567 TEUs or 17.66 per cent compared to the previous week. However, deliveries by rail dropped to 109 TEUs, down 48 per cent. The total container population rose to 17,226 TEUs from 15,244 TEUs the previous week registering an increase of 1,982 TEUs or 13 percent. The yard population comprised 7,325 TEUs awaiting pickup order, 4,647 TEUs ready for collection 771 TEUs full exports (nominated/un-nominated). Others included 441 TEUs for transshipments, 3,261 TEUs empties and 781 TEUs at the customs warehouse. Cargo moved to the Container Freight Stations (CFS) recorded 818,494 TEUs out of which 814,690 TEUs were cleared leaving a balance of 3,804 TEUs. The import breakdown showed that 3,705 TEUs were local bound while 5,205 TEUs were for the transit...

Some eyebrows were raised when South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma announced last weekend that Comoros had been admitted as the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) 16th member. The announcement came after the 37th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the organisation in Pretoria. Officials disclosed that Burundi had also applied but had been declined, for now. They said Burundi first needed to resolve the internal political instability that President Pierre Nkurunziza provoked in 2015 when he took an apparently unconstitutional third term in office. But they seemed confident that Burundi would eventually be admitted. Why the interest in joining? SADC doesn’t, on the face of it, seem a very alluring organisation. Vera Songwe, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) executive secretary, painted a rather bleak picture of the region’s economy in her speech to the summit. She said overall growth in the region had declined to 1.4% in 2016, from 2.3% in 2015. The share of manufacturing in the region’s overall GDP had also declined, from 14.1% in 2005 to only 11.1% in 2015. SADC countries continued to rely heavily, for over 60% of total exports, on raw commodities, in particular minerals – with minimal value added. In 2016 the region also registered a deficit of $17 billion in goods and services, while lower revenues from diminished global commodity prices and depreciating currencies inflated fiscal deficits and public debts. SADC’s overall government debt rose from 42% of GDP in 2014 to 46.8% of GDP in 2015....

Tanzania and Kenya have ended a two-month diplomatic row that led to import bans of some products and resulted in heavy financial losses for businesses from either side. The cessation of hostilities came after President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania's John Magufuli stepped in to end what was fast degenerating into a full-blown diplomatic crisis between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Following the deal, Tanzania has re-opened its borders to Kenyan products, including unprocessed foods, milk products and cigarettes, ending a standoff that saw exporters from both countries suffer financial setbacks. In reciprocation, Kenya has allowed Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) from Tanzania back into the country, a month after imposing a ban citing safety and security risks. Kenya has also lifted the ban on Tanzanian wheat. The ban has been lifted. We no longer have a problem at all,” Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau told Standard Business yesterday. Trade PS Chris Kiptoo confirmed the lifting of the import ban by both countries. “To my knowledge, the borders have been reopened for business, but we have a bilateral meeting set for September 6 to 8 in Tanzania,” he said of the new developments. Tanzania has, however, retained the duty it imposed on Kenyan products pending the outcome of the high-level meeting to iron out some sticky issues. Meeting aborted The meeting was supposed to be held on Wednesday last week but it aborted at the last minute when Tanzanian officials failed to show up. Previous attempts to resolve the impasse have not...

Electricity trade among East African states will soon begin as Ethiopia and Kenya race to finish the stringing of cross-border high-voltage transmission lines. Work has started on the 2,000 km Kenya-Tanzania-Zambia interconnector link to the South Africa Power Pool to provide opportunities for trade between the eastern and southern part of the continent. North China Power Engineering Company is doing the line from Isinya on the outskirts of Nairobi to Namanga town on the border with Tanzania. “Survey has started and foundation work on a 93 km, 400 kilovolt (kV) line starts in September 2017. Completion is expected by December 2018,” said Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) managing director Fernandes Barasa. The $309 million line from Isinya substation in Kenya to Singida in southern Tanzania is expected to transfer 2,400MW. Ketraco and Tanzania Electric Supply Company will oversee the project. The Tanzanian line is 414 km from Namanga to Singida. There will be a substation in Arusha and expansion works expected on the Singida substation to link the two countries’ national grids. Ketraco said a new line running from Suswa substation near Naivasha town to Lessos in western Kenya and on to Tororo in eastern Uganda will be built, with an arm from Lessos near Kapsabet to Kisumu. Suswa is the distribution point of power from Olkaria, Olkaria 1 and Olkaria 4 geothermal plants, with an output of about 500MW. Thermal plants The Ethiopia-Kenya line and Loiyangalani in northern Kenya are linked to the Lake Turkana Wind Farm. The 220...

African countries will incur at least $4.3 trillion, or $174 billion a year, in financing infrastructure projects to support economic growth over the next 23 years, according to a recent report by G20’s Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub). The Global Infrastructure Outlook calls upon African countries to raise the continent’s infrastructural investments to $240 billion per year ($6 trillion by 2040) in order to match their peers. According to the study covering infrastructure investment needs globally, Africa’s infrastructure segment remains small, accounting for just six per cent of the global tally. The continent’s needs are 39 per cent more than the forecast investment under current trends. “Total infrastructure investment in Africa was equivalent to 4.3 per cent of GDP between 2007 and 2015. The continent will need to maintain investment at around this proportion of GDP to accommodate economic and population growth to 2040,” the report says. In East Africa, the three countries included in the report; Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania will cumulatively spend $837 billion on infrastructure projects by 2040. But the three will require at least $308 billion more to meet their infrastructure spending needs over the period. Striking differences Kenya must spend at least Ksh969 billion ($9.3 billion) every year on infrastructure to meet its infrastructure spending needs of $223 billion. Ethiopia has the highest forecast spending against current spending trends gap of $154 billion, followed by Tanzania at $115 billion followed. To bridge the gaps, the two countries will need to raise their infrastructural spending to...

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) began Monday a consultative process within member states which is expected to lead to a pact that will enable free movement of people in the region. According to the IGAD secretary general, Amb. Mahboub Maalim, when the body was established on January 16, 1986, one of its core objectives was to enable free movement of people among member states. "One of the core ambitions of IGAD was to enable migration. Unfortunately we have been dogged by many challenges such as internal conflicts in member states. We were thus forced to focus on priority areas such as peace, security and disaster management," he said. He added that regional co-operation has been vital in solving conflicts in Somalia and South Sudan, citing Uganda's contribution as key in stabilising both nations. "Migration is not about to stop anywhere. People cross borders every minute. It is unfortunate that many of the migrants dying in the Mediterranean Sea are from the IGAD region, yet we could have worked out a mechanism to help them by easing intra-migration. And that is why the entire world is concerned about migration," said Maalim. The three-day consultative meeting (August 21-23) dubbed The Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in the IGAD Region, brings together key players in the migration sector, including civil society, academia, private sector, the media, the Police, the military, and the ministries of health, internal affairs and foreign affairs. The stakeholders are expected to give their views on free movement...