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Kenya to Finally Extend the SGR to the Ugandan Border… Without Any Chinese Financing

by Eric Olander
Kenyan lawmakers are hoping China will consider a debt repayment extension to service the remaining $3.3 billion that was borrowed to build the Standard Gauge Railway. Simon Mania/AFP

Kenya’s parliament approved funds to extend the Standard Gauge Railway from Naivasha in the Rift Valley all the way to Malaba on the border with Uganda. Several years ago, this extension was known as “SGR Phase 3.” President Uhuru Kenyatta’s requests for the financing of this phase were famously rejected (twice) by China. This time, the Kenyan government will be underwriting the construction cost itself and at a considerably lower price.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation, the same Chinese state-owned contractor that built the first two phases of the SGR, was selected by Kenya Railways to build the 23.5-kilometer extension too. (KENYANS.CO.KE)

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