Kenya will begin rehabilitating the 127-kilometre Voi-Taveta metre gauge railway line to serve the Kenya Ports Authority’s inland container depot at Taveta on the border with Tanzania.
Kenya’s Planning Principal Secretary Saitoti Torome said plans to refurbish the old line were complete and works will commence in the 2022/2023 financial year.
The rehabilitated line is expected to connect the Taveta ICD with the port of Mombasa making it easier to move cargo and boost transit volumes, export and transhipment to Tanzania and Burundi.
The cargo throughput from the two countries at the port of Mombasa has been declining in the past few years. About 232,000 tonnes of cargo destined for Tanzania were handled at the port of Mombasa in 2021, with 1,000 tonnes going to Burundi.
The Kenya Ports Authority has secured a 50-acre plot at the Taveta-Holili border crossing where it will build the inland freight hub.
The railway and freight hub will bring port facilities closer to importers and exporters and will reduce the distance from Mombasa to Bujumbura via the Northern Corridor by 358 kilometres.
It will also facilitate faster and more efficient trade through the Taveta/Holili One-Stop-Border-Post.
Read also; Kenya to begin work on Transnational Road link with Tanzania.
