The government has begun repairing the 127-kilometer Voi-Taveta metre gauge railway line, which will serve the Kenya Ports Authority’s inland container depot at Taveta on the border with Tanzanian.
The rehabilitated line is expected to connect the Taveta ICD to the port of Mombasa, making cargo movement easier and increasing transit volumes, export and transhipment to Tanzania and Burundi.
The cargo throughput from the two countries at the port of Mombasa has been declining in the past few years. About 232,000 tonnes of cargo destined for Tanzania were handled at the port of Mombasa in 2021, with 1,000 tonnes going to Burundi.
The Kenya Ports Authority has secured a 50-acre plot at the Taveta-Holili border crossing where it will build the inland freight hub.
The railway and freight hub will bring port facilities closer to importers and exporters and will reduce the distance from Mombasa to Bujumbura via the Northern Corridor by 358 kilometres.
It will also facilitate faster and more efficient trade through the Taveta/Holili One-Stop-Border-Post.
Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has already issued a notice to tens of encroachers on railway land reserve along the Voi-Taita-Taveta meter-gauge railway corridor to vacate before the end of this month to facilitate rehabilitation of the rail.
“We wish to bring to the attention of all members of the public that the corporation intends to rehabilitate the 127-kilometre of Voi-Taita Taveta MGR line. Fourteen days’ notice is hereby issued to all unauthorized persons who have encroached or are living on and/or operating along MGR line corridor to voluntarily vacate immediately or face forceful eviction upon expiry of this notice in to give way for the planned revitalization exercise,” read part of the notice by KRC.
The corporation said upon expiry of the notice period, any illegal structures/property found along the corridor will be demolished and/or removed at the encroachers’ risk and cost.
Several people are expected to count losses as some sections of the railway land along the corridor have been turned into stalls.
The line is now dilapidated and some of its sections have been vandalised, with rail bars missing especially inside Tsavo West National Park.
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