A consortium from the United Arab Emirates has pitched camp in Kenya eyeing a piece of the Ksh28 billion Nairobi City Railway project.
In a statement on Friday, October 31, the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) revealed it held talks with the DECAEXEC Consortium to discuss potential strategic and institutional investment partnerships in the upcoming project.
According to the KRC, the Nairobi Railway City project has been conceptualized into six distinct zones, each serving a specific urban function.
KRC revealed that during the meeting, the DECAEXEC team made a presentation outlining a phased and sustainable investment approach focused on the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) zone.
The MICE precinct, which occupies 69 acres along Uhuru Highway, is envisioned to transform Nairobi’s skyline and serve as a hub for international business tourism.
It is set to be supported by an integrated rail transport network, with the development aiming to balance the social benefits to the city with strong economic returns.
The project is a flagship UK–Kenya partnership project aimed at transforming 425 acres between Haile Selassie Avenue, Uhuru Highway, Landhies Road and Bunyala Road, into a modern, multimodal urban development anchored around a new Central Railway Station.
It will be located just south of Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) around the same area as the existing central railways station. It will be about 11 km from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and will involve relocating the Central Bus Station north of the current railway site.
The project’s objectives include hub development and create a premier transport network, employment creation with over 5,000 jobs expected to be created, and enabling ecosystem of meeting spaces, business districts, and sustainability with the project expected to lead to a safe, inclusive, climate-resilient and authentically Kenyan environment.
The Nairobi Central Station will be the centrepiece of the project, and will be a modern, low-carbon, two-storey building integrating a ground floor with retail and food and beverage outlets. The first floor will have ticketing halls and provide access to railway platforms, with a grand public square at the front.
Designed per the Nairobi Commuter Rail Master Plan and NIUPLAN, the railway city is expected to have a capacity of 30,000 passengers per peak hour with a long-term target of moving 1.5 million Nairobi residents daily through the commuter network.
The project received Cabinet approval in June this year and was initially expected to be completed in 2027.
