President Paul Kagame on Thursday returned from Uganda where he had joined his regional counterparts for the Seventh Summit of the Heads of State of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects held mid last week in Kampala.

The summit was a follow-up on previous ones regarding the Northern Corridor projects jointly being implemented by Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan.

During the three-day meeting that started on Monday, the Presidents were briefed by line ministers from the partner states on the progress of the ventures that include the highly anticipated standard gauge railway line.

The Sunday Times has learned from senior Rwandan officials, who attended the summit, that the Presidents provided guidance on how to expedite the implementation of the projects.

The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was one of those that featured high on the summit’s agenda and the Presidents heard that Uganda and Rwanda were assessing capacities of Chinese companies that have expressed interest in implementing the Kampala-Kagitumba and Kagitumba-Kigali sections of the railway line.

Meanwhile, South Sudan reported that it had already signed a commercial contract with China Harbors Engineering Company (CHEC) that will be working on the Nimule-Juba section while Kenya was implementing the feasibility study for the Mombasa-Nairobi section through another Chinese firm.

Uganda reported that on October 8, a commercial contract was signed with CHEC to work on the Malaba-Kampala section of the line (which includes Tororo-Nimule at the border with South Sudan and that a German firm, Gauff/ILF, will complete the feasibility study for the Kampala-Kigali section by June 2015.

In their response, the Presidents instructed Ministers for Transport and Infrastructure to speed up all SGR related activities and together with the Ministers of Finance and Attorneys General,  jointly approach the Chinese government to source financing for the project and report feedback during the next summit expected in three months.

Energy deals

According to our sources, infrastructure ministers reported that the regional standardisation of the electricity transmission line to 400kV will be complete by March, 2017.

Rwanda and Kenya also accepted to adopt a phased approach of power trade between them starting with 30MW by June 2015; 50MW by December, 2016 and 150MW by March, 2017.

The summit instructed Rwandan and Ugandan ministers of finance to work with ministers of energy and infrastructure to jointly mobilise funds for undertaking a study on standardisation of regional inter-connectivity and upgrading of the Masaka-Mbarara transmission line.

Ministers were also instructed to accelerate the conclusion of power purchase pact between Kenya and Rwanda and the wheeling agreement with Uganda (that will enable the transportation of energy from Kenya to Rwanda through Uganda) and report progress at the next summit.

Regarding the development of a refined petroleum products pipeline, finance ministers were instructed to work with colleagues handling the infrastructure, energy and lands dockets to fast-track mobilisation of project financing, land acquisition and report their progress to the next meeting.

The feasibility study for the Kampala-Kigali section of the proposed pipeline was completed in August 2014 and the eight firms have been prequalified for the project.

Trade and Tourism

Rwanda, which is coordinating the awareness of East African Travel Visa (EATV) in foreign missions, reported that a website (www.visiteastafrica.org) where foreigners could apply for the Visa was now operational on.

The partners want a total removal of barriers to free movement of labour and services and strategies to achieve that have reportedly been agreed upon by partner states.

The Sunday Times understands that a draft agreement on total liberalisation of labour and services was prepared and circulated to members for their input with plans to have it signed during the next Summit.

The meeting instructed Uganda to expedite removal of work permit fees subjected on Kenyan and Rwandan citizens and report action at the next Summit.

The Presidents also instructed their ministers in charge of immigration, tourism and labour to expedite conclusion of the appropriate agreements and implementation of a road-map for total liberalisation of free movement of labour and services by December 31, 2014.

One Network Area

Policy guidelines were issued to all telecom operators in partner states and it was heard that Rwanda and Kenya have taken the lead after they operationalised the one network area on October 5, 2014. Uganda pledged to join by November 1, while South Sudan agreed to get through by December 31, after the proposed official launch of the initiative slated for next month.

The Presidents instructed the ministers in charge to operationalise the one network area and prepare for the official launch by the Heads of State by November 1.

Ministers were also told to develop a regional overarching broadband strategy and adhere to the global analogue broadcasting switch off deadline of June, 2015. 

On all the projects, observers noted that while the political will was there, partner states were likely to be slowed down by lack of financing for the ventures. 

However, during the summit, ministers of infrastructure were directed to speed up the technical studies for the projects and closely work with the ministers of finance to source funding and report progress to the next summit. 

The Northern corridor projects summits are held on a rotational basis among partner states on a quarterly basis. The next summit is expected to take place in Nairobi, Kenya around January.