Tuesday, Oct 12, 2010
NAIROBI (Dow Jones)--Construction of a modern railway linking South Sudan to Uganda will begin before the end of the year, The Standard newspaper reports Tuesday.
"While the initial plan was to hit the existing Kenyan rail link at Rongai, where we were to build a container terminal. We are now also considering Lamu port," Castello Garang Ring Lual, special advisor to South Sudan President Salva Kiir, tells the Kenyan daily.
The proposed Lamu port is considered a vital sea route for South Sudan's crude oil exports.
The East African Railway project, estimated to cost some $7 billion, will connect Juba in South Sudan to Gulu and Tororo, before hitting the existing Kenya-Uganda railway, and will have a total length of 725 kilometers, the daily said.
It is expected that Uganda will use the new railway to move its crude oil deposits, which is waxy and, therefore, considered unsuitable for transport through a pipeline, the daily said.
The new railroad will also facilitate movement of goods and people to and from Juba to the wider East African region, including Mombasa, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti, the daily says.
Full Story: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000020063&cid=14&j=&m=&d=
-By George Mwangi, contributing To Dow Jones Newswires; +254 735 781 853; gmwangi0@gmail.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-10-10 0928GMT
