Posted on 08 March 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Citadel Capital, a leading private equity firm in Africa and the Middle East, with investments totalling $US8.3 billion, confirmed on 22 February that it has acquired a 49% stake in the Sheltam company, the largest single shareholder and lead investor in the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) consortium. Sheltam, a South African company, owns 35% of RVR, [...] [...more]
Posted on 12 February 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
According to Kenyan transport minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere, the planned new standard-gauge railway is “on course”, An initial stumbling block had been a stipulation in RVR’s concession document, providing that no other line could be constructed within 35km on either side of the existing railway. Agreement to waive this condition was subsequently agreed. When bidding closed [...] [...more]
Posted on 12 February 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
A late January joint governmental meeting convened in Kampala to decide whether to cancel RVR’s concession resolved after lengthy deliberations that it would not do so. Had it done otherwise, Jaindi Kisero pointed out in the Saturday Nation, the Transcentury group based in Kenya risked losing “an estimated $9 million it spent on acquiring its [...] [...more]
Posted on 12 February 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 2 February, writes Alphonce Shiundu in the Daily Nation, published in Nairobi, the Kenya parliament’s public investment committee (PIC) “failed to meet to iron out audit queries in the accounts of the Kenya Railway Corporation”, due to Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) managing director Nduva Muli being at “an international conference in America”. According to Shiundu, “In [...] [...more]
Posted on 01 February 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Lengthy, largely uncomplimentary, stories about Rift Valley Railways (RVR) have been appearing in the East African press following original lead investor Sheltam selling 49% of the shares in its company to Citadel, an Egyptian entity. A basic reality in dealing with private enterprise of course is that the composition of a company today may change [...] [...more]
Posted on 22 January 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 15 January, according to Jaindi Kisero in the Saturday Nation (published in Nairobi), a new shareholders agreement was discussed at a lively board meeting of Rift Valley Railways (RVR). In the previous week, the governments of Kenya and Uganda reportedly directed the company “to get its house in order” following reports that Egyptian-based Citadel Capital [...] [...more]
Posted on 22 January 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Kenya’s planned new standard gauge railway is “on course”, transport minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere says. Evelyn Njoroge of Nairobi-based Butterfly News quotes him explaining that the agreement with Rift Valley Railways (RVR) initially blocked the proposed development. It stipulated that the two governments could not construct a line within 35km on either side of the [...] [...more]
Posted on 12 December 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
Kenya’s existing railway network, “undercapitalised and run down for so long, may be out of tune with the technology and needs of today, and revamping it may not offer intelligent solutions for tomorrow,” consultant George Wachira writes in Nairobi’s Business Daily. He is impressed with the master plan drawn up by Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), [...] [...more]
Posted on 12 December 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
Consultant George Wachira, writing in Nairobi’s Business Daily, commends plans for a new railway from Mombasa to Uganda, but strongly questions other ambitious ideas: “A line from Lamu to Southern Sudan is questionable and premature at this moment in time, since the political set-up of Southern Sudan is yet to crystallise. It is more prudent to [...] [...more]
Posted on 21 November 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
In the next 20 years, some 30 million tonnes of goods per annum are projected to pass through East Africa’s northern corridor, which extends from Mombasa through Kisumu in Kenya and past Kampala in Uganda. The current figure is about 15 million tonnes currently, 90% of which goes by road. Local inhabitants recall times [...] [...more]
