Uganda's President, Yoweri Museveni, on Thursday, congratulated his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta for completing phase one of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) that runs from Mombasa to Nairobi.
Speaking at the opening of the Joint Retreat of East Africa Community Heads of State in Entebbe, he noted that the completion of the first phase of SGR had drastically lowered the costs of transporting goods within the East African region.
“It is three times more costly to transport anything on the road even with the old line. With SGR reaching Nairobi, it costs eight cents dollars per metric a tonne compared to 21 cents dollars by road," he stated.
During the retreat dubbed “Deepening and widening regional integration through infrastructure and health sector development in the EAC Partner States", he noted that the on-going infrastructural projects are a clear demonstration of a region making progress.
[caption caption="Uganda Pres Yoweri Museveni addressing EAC heads of state"]
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The first commercial train ferrying cargo on the SGR from Mombasa arrived in Nairobi’s ultra-modern inland container depot on January 1 this year.
The cargo train carried 104 containers, which is almost equivalent to the trucks operating daily on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
He also emphasized that electricity, railway as well as Information and Communication Technology projects must be given priority in the Public-Private Partnership arrangements if the goal of lowering the cost of doing business in the region is to be achieved.
“As a region, we deal with multi-dimensional issues instead of uni-dimensional. Everybody is now talking of Public-Private Partnership without considering the costs of the end product,” he stated.
On health financing, President Museveni stated the region is spending $77 Billion on medical referral to India which would otherwise be used to improve the economy.
[caption caption="Presidents Salva Kiir,Uhuru Kenyatta and John P Magufuli "]
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The EAC heads of State summit was also attended by Presidents John Pombe Magufuli (Tanzania) and Salva Kiir (South Sudan).
