Kampala — The East African Community (EAC) secretariat is organising a regional conference aimed at actualisation of a US$900bn East African Railway Master plan which will cost $900 billion.

The March 11-12 conference to be held in Dar es Salaam is being organised together with the World Bank and the ADB. The meeting is fulfilling a directive by the EAC Heads of State to devise a regional strategy to revamp the railways after decades of neglect.

"Recommendations in the master plan have financial implications and the purpose is to mobilise funds from development partners and potential investors," Owora noted.

The major project provides for a vast network of additional railway lines within East Africa and others linking the region to neighbouring Ethiopia, southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) targeted at constructing 15 new lines under the EAC Railways Development Master Plan.

Tanzania would be the main beneficiary of the new railway lines should the ambitious project materialise. Besides the Isaka-Kigali line, eight other new railway lines have been proposed within the country, linking Tanzania with other states.

Kenya would have two railway branches connecting it to its closest Ethiopia and Sudan. One of the proposed railway lines will connect Garissa town with the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, while another will be constructed from Lamu to Juba in south Sudan via Garissa.

Under the plan, Uganda would have four new lines connecting to southern Sudan, DRC and Tanzania. Burundi and Rwanda, which joined the regional bloc on July submitted their proposals to the master plan study

By revamping, linking and expanding the rail network, players are moving towards establishing a standardised network throughout the region.

Transport analysts say existing East African railways, built at the dawn of the last century, have fallen into near total neglect and need overhaul and the initiative is to replace the one metre-gauge line by a four-metre line.

Partner States are expected to highlight current plans for existing and development of new railways and also comment on the plan and appraise the conference on the country plans, their status, and how they fit in with the EAC plan including arrangements for financing. A session on railways financial and operational challenges in Africa, drawing from operators', regulators' and financiers' viewpoints will form the hallmark of the conference.

"These views and knowledge need to be used to develop not only railways but, more importantly, multimodal transport policies that can ensure maximum efficiency and sustainability of future railways infrastructure investments in the EAC Partner States EAC Director of Planning and Infrastructure Mr. Philip Wambugu said.