Kenya and Uganda’s presidents met near their shared border Saturday to celebrate the long-delayed railway extension.
The Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway, completed from 2013 to 2019, connects Mombasa to Nairobi and Naivasha but stalled before reaching Uganda.
Kenya spends roughly $1 billion yearly servicing Chinese loans, far exceeding the railway’s revenue of about $165 million last year.
A 2025 audit revealed over $260 million lost to penalties and interest on late payments, highlighting costly financial mismanagement.
Despite the debt controversy, Kenya has pushed to complete the line, with President William Ruto calling it a project that will “define generations.”
Ruto said the railway would cut logistics costs that currently undermine east Africa’s competitiveness and hamper regional trade growth.
If construction stays on schedule, the railway will reach Kisumu by June 2027, before extending to Malaba on the Uganda border.
“Cargo takes 80 hours from Mombasa to Malaba and over 100 to reach Kampala,” Ruto said, emphasising inefficiency as a barrier to prosperity.
President Yoweri Museveni called the railway part of Uganda’s transport rationalisation, describing the current system as “irrational and wasteful.”
Museveni added that shifting cargo from roads to rail would reduce costs, protect infrastructure, and improve regional efficiency.
Ruto broke ground on the next phase in Narok County Thursday, promising jobs and relief for congested roads along the route.
The new phase will cost over 500 billion shillings ($3.9 billion) and is financed against future cargo taxes, with Chinese firms as construction partners.
China lent Kenya $9.7 billion from 2000 to 2019, roughly half for the railway, but suspended further loans from 2020 to 2023 amid repayment struggles.
Kenya views the extension as crucial to boosting trade with east and central Africa, targeting landlocked neighbours and mineral-rich markets in the region.