Uganda’s Museveni to become first foreign head of state to travel using Kenya’s SGR
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will be the first foreign Head of State to travel using the Kenyan standard gauge railway from Mombasa to Nairobi when he boards the Madaraka Express on Thursday.
President Museveni is on a State visit to neighbouring Kenya and arrived in the port city of Mombasa on Wednesday where he and his counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, led their respective delegations in bilateral talks at State House.
“You have given me the honour of being the first President to ride on the new railway. I will put it in my album and show it to all the Ugandans,” said Museveni said of the planned journey.
Museveni praised President Kenyatta for handling what he described as Uganda’s perennial problem of delays at the Port of Mombasa through the railway to tackle corruption and other difficulties in clearing goods destined for Uganda.
President Uhuru Kenyatta also invited Uganda to join Kenya in the joint development of the standard gauge railway to ensure it continues from the border to the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Commuter train services on the standard gauge railway were launched to on May 31 2017 by President Kenyatta to run through the 480km SGR connecting the capital Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa.
The China Road and Bridge Corporation implemented the mega infrastructure project that is deemed an early result of the Belt and Road Initiative.
