News from the Kenya Railways Corporation suggests that the China Road & Bridge Corporation will send in 5,000 workers to work on the standard gauge railway.
Kenya signed a Sh314.2 billion deal with China for the construction of the Mombassa Nairobi railway in May, 2014.
The deal is to be executed in phases starting with the standard gauge railway project which is to cover 609.3km from the port of Mombassa to Nairobi.
The China Exim Bank and the Kenyan Government will share the costs in a 90:10 ratio, and some 30,000 Kenyans are projected to be employed by the project once completed.
Managing Director of the Kenya Railway Corporation, Atanas Maina spoke on the construction scheduled to start in September; “The contractor will bring in the workers and get additional ones locally. We have also commenced discussions to reduce timelines and ensure that the project is completed by 2017.”[eap_ad_2]
President Kenyatta had earlier said during a televised interview that the first phase of the project will link Kenya and other Eastern African counterparts and should be concluded in 2018. He also revealed that the Standard Gauge Railway is to provide efficient and cost effective transport for freight and passengers, thereby reducing the cost of doing business. Passenger trains will move at a speed of 120 km per hour while the trains for freight will be made to travel at 80 km per hour.
“It will take passengers four hours and thirty minutes to travel from Mombassa to Nairobi while freight will take eight hours. The project will take 42 months to complete,” said Kenyatta. (VENTURES AFRICA)[eap_ad_3]