President Ruto announced key SGR extension to boost East African integration

By Robert Mutasi

During the opening of the East Africa Community Inter-Parliamentary Games in Mombasa, President William Ruto announced a major expansion of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway, which he said would act as an economic catalyst for regional integration in East Africa.

We have now agreed with Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo that from Naivasha, the Standard Gauge Railway will extend to Uganda, Rwanda, and DRC.

This will enable us to travel using the SGR anytime we are going to those countries," Ruto said. He emphasized such infrastructure projects as crucial in improving connectivity between the East African countries for easy transportation of people and goods.

He added that the SGR extension will play a key role in boosting intra-regional trade, which currently stands at just 28 percent, a figure he said was too low for the region's full economic potential.

In addition to unlocking new markets and opportunities, the extension will improve transportation links and, in turn, boost larger goals of economic integration within the East African Community.

The move is also being viewed as a strategic step toward integrating the whole African continent. Ruto emphasized that an expanded railway network could act as a base for AfCFTA, an initiative by the African Union to place a single market of over 1.3 billion people under one roof, and that this SGR project has all the potential to accelerate that dream with much-improved connectivity between the nations of Africa.

The extension of SGR will not only reduce the cost and time of transport but also make the region competitive in the global marketplace. This is a historic moment for East Africa since all the countries are working towards one goal of an integrated, efficient, and prosperous region.