Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), which stopped in Naivasha, will soon extend to the western region, covering 11 counties with the potential of linking 7 countries in the region.
This came to light at the 3rd Seminar China-Africa Modernisation and SGR Economic Belt held in Nairobi, in which Kenya’s Transport Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Mohammed Daghar, announced that the Phase 2B from Naivasha-Kisumu will start in late July.
Since its launch in May 2017, the SGR—which operates between Mombasa and Nairobi—has seen a dramatic increase in passenger transport, with about 5.5 million people using it over the last three years, while freight has also grown to 7 million tons.
The Phase 2B will crisscross 11 counties, creating opportunities for manufacturing industries and other businesses. These include: Mombasa,
Taita Taveta, Machakos, Nairobi, Bomet, Narok, Nakuru, Nyamira, Kisumu, Siaya and Busia. This will be followed by Phase 2C, which will cover Kisumu-Malaba on the border between Kenya and Uganda.
Mr Daghar said that Kenya has prioritised regional connectivity through a network to serve the neighbouring partner states of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the northern part of Tanzania.
“Let us build a transport sector that not only moves goods and people, but moves nations and regions such as the Horn of Africa forward,” said Mr Daghar.
The seminar was organised by Africa Policy Institute in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Kenya as part of the China-Africa Cooperation, a key global, multi-part, good and balanced initiative by China, including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilisation Initiative.
The year 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000. It is also the first year in the implementation of the outcomes of the 2024 FOCAC Summit in Beijing.
Framed by President Xi Jinping’s speech on “Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build a Community with a Shared Future”, the Beijing forum adopted two seminal documents.
Besides a declaration on jointly building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, the Beijing Summit also adopted a ten-point partnership Action Plan (2025-2027) to light the path to China-Africa cooperation and modernisation of the Global South.
The implementation of the Beijing FOCAC summit Agenda over the next three years will accelerate the realisation of two other interrelated agendas. Globally, the 2024 FOCAC Agenda offers a landing site for the Global Development Initiative (GDI), which aims to support the timely achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the post-COVID era.
According to the CEO of the Africa Policy Institute, Prof Peter Kagwanja, Kenya and East Africa have reached a point where they are not talking about borrowing but home-grown development processes supported by partners like China.
“The lessons we have learned from China are that development must come from within. The SGR has moved from mere transport infrastructure into an economic belt that covers 11 counties and seven neighbouring countries,” said Prof Kagwanja.
According to Yu Xiadong, the manager of the China Road Construction that built the SGR, the railway line has become a powerful engine driving Kenya’s transport modernisation efforts by creating industries along the route, such as the Arthi River Industrial Park that handles logistics and manufacturing and employs about 4,000 people.
Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya, Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle, said that while Somalia is not directly involved in the SGR yet, it has an indirect benefit, given that Somalia is a part of a growing market in East Africa.
“It has already seen Somali businessmen and women contributing local economy from Kampala to Mombasa to Kinshasa, playing a vital role in the local economy, and you can see a footprint of Somali businesses across Nairobi and beyond, further opening to the regional economy,” said Mr Abdulle.
The East African Community (EAC) Secretary-General, Veronica Nduva, said that infrastructure development remains at the heart of the regional integration agenda, but it must be preceded by peace and security.
She said that the key pillar of the EAC-China relations includes infrastructure development, trade and economic cooperation worth $26.5 billion, and supporting peacekeeping operations in the region.
