Rehabilitation of the
Nanyuki- Nairobi railway line is complete.
The rehabilitation exercise
on the 240 kilometres stretch has been completed with Kenya Railways started
transportation of petroleum products to Shell Vivo Energy Deport in Nanyuki
town.
Several government
officials have travelled with the train to Nanyuki ahead of the launching of
the project by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mining and Petroleum
Cabinet Secretary John Munyes who toured the petroleum facility accompanied by
a government delegation that rode the passenger train from Thika on a test run.
Munyes said the
revival would offer a safer way of transporting petroleum products to Mt
Kenya region and Northern parts of the country.
“What this brings as
far as the petroleum sector is concerned is efficiency, the security of our
products is going to be achieved with this railway, it’s going to be cheap,
safe because we are taking away trucks off our roads,” Munyes said.
He added that the
transportation of petroleum via the railway will greatly minimise cases of fuel
adulteration often common when the same is transported by trucks on roads.
“We have had cases of
neighbouring countries complaining that fuel transported there through Kenyan
roads is adulterated, but if we can restrict ourselves to transporting
fuel via pipeline or railway, it means security of our products is achieved,”
the CS said.
Others who accompanied the CS were Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, Principal Secretaries Andrew Kamau (Petroleum)
and Kirimi Kaberia (Mining).
There are plans to
extend the railway line to Meru and Isiolo Counties in order to connect it to
the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET).
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