A train travels on an elevated bridge above a highway, with a red car parked on the roadside below.
After a six-year standstill, Kenya is finally reviving its ambitious railway extension toward the Ugandan border. While the original line linking the port of Mombasa to Nairobi opened in 2017, the expansion toward Uganda famously stalled in the Rift Valley after China slashed Belt and Road lending in 2019, leaving the line 350 kilometers short of its endpoint. However, a new financing model that securitizes revenue from a railway development levy worth about $270 million is breathing life back into the tracks. The new approach, enabled by legislative changes and aligned with a 2024 Beijing-Africa summit shift toward investment over debt, still involves China Road and Bridge Corporation as the contractor. The restart reflects a broader pivot toward investment-led partnerships rather than heavy borrowing. For Kenya, the project could unlock regional trade routes and logistics growth, even as the government balances infrastructure ambitions with mounting debt pressures.
CNBC Africa