Business
East African nations Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to embark on major joint infrastructure projects
The product pipeline will be upgraded to allow the flow both ways, the minister said. For now, oil products only flow from Mombasa. Uganda, which plans to start crude output by 2016, aims to build a 30,000 barrel per day refinery by 2016/17.
“Another pipeline will be constructed and will be for evacuation of crude oil when it starts flowing, and this again will be done between Uganda, South Sudan and Kenya, ending up at the port of Lamu,” the minister said.
That project could boost plans for Lamu, which Kenya wants to act as an oil terminal and a port with transport links to landlocked South Sudan and Ethiopia. It would also relieve pressure on Mombasa port, the main regional gateway.
South Sudan, which now exports crude through Sudan to the Red Sea, previously discussed a pipeline through Kenya as well as a route through Ethiopia to Djibouti.
Kenya has already awarded a contract to Kenyan and Chinese firms to build the first three berths at Lamu.
Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda also agreed to revamp an existing railway network and extend it to Rwanda and discussed power cooperation, the minister said, adding the three states would meet every two months to review progress on all joint infrastructure projects.
The inclusion of Chinese firms in the development of African infrastructure will be on U.S. President Barack Obama’s mind as he tours Africa hoping to increase the amount of American investment on an increasingly important continent.
