The government of Kenya has pledged to allocate land in Naivasha for Uganda to develop a dry port for its cargo ahead of the completion of the Standard Gauge Railway phase 2 from Nairobi to Naivasha in June this year.
This was during a state banquet in Mombasa last night, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the link of the dry port with SGR from Mombasa Port will create an efficient movement of goods between the two countries.
It should be noted that movement of cargo from the Port of Mombasa to Kampala that previously would take 21 days. But this has drastically reduced to 7 days since Kenyatta took over as President. And this initiative will further reduce the cost of transport for Ugandan investors.
President Kenyatta confirmed to President Museveni that with this development in Naivasha and then moving the SGR to Malaba, goods will be able to move from Mombasa to Malaba in just two days.
President Kenyatta also noted that his government is finalizing the construction of the Kisumu petroleum jetty which together with the oil pipeline will ease transportation of petroleum products across the East African Region.
“For the first time since colonial days, we are utilizing Lake Victoria for transportation thereby reducing the cost of moving fuel (petroleum) to Uganda and increasing potential for trade between the two countries,” he said.
President Museveni added his voice that petroleum products will be carried across Lake Victoria to Uganda via tag boats which will be cheaper, faster, safer and away from the roads.
He emphasised that African Countries must embrace economic and political integration in order to spur prosperity and ensure strategic security for their citizens.
President Museveni also hailed the revival of the East African Community, joining of COMESA by East African states and signing of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) saying those were progressive steps towards the political integration of the continent.
“Economic integration if it is implemented properly will result in the modernization of African countries. They will be stimulated to produce more,” he stated.
President Museveni also praised the founding fathers of African states such as Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwameh Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and other Pan Africanists for championing continental and regional economic and political integration.
