Highlights:
Kenya is set to receive its first tramway that is set to ease the traffic congestion in Nairobi city. The urban light train will connect the city center with several suburbs in a project to be launched in June.
The project is a joint effort between Kenya and Hungary is projected to cost $150 million (KSH 15 billion) in a project that will see Kenya gets a tramway.
Summary:
Following an official visit to state by the Hungarian Ambassador to Kenya Eduard Laszlo Mathe, the two countries announced a joint project that will see Kenya get its first urban light train connecting the city center to most of the suburb routes in Nairobi.
The tramway project will be completed in two phases with the first phase being connecting the Standard Gauge Railway end point in Nairobi to the city center railway station. The second phase will include proposed branches of the train project to Thika Road, Ngong Road, Ongata Rongai and Limuru Road all connected to the city center.
The project is expected to cost $150 million (KSH 15 billion) and Hungarian engineers will train their Kenyan counterparts to make materials and transfer the skills to manage the project which will technologically advance the Kenyan team.
Upon completion all the branches will be expected to transport at least 300,000 passengers a day and easing the traffic into the city. It will also modernize the daily commute for Kenyans working in the city and living outside the city.
Amb Eduard Laszlo Mathe said “In line with Hungary’s new foreign policy for Africa to reinforce economic relations, we will train and equip Kenyans with skills to develop the project and own it. This project will be made in Kenya.”
This ambitious project will reduce the amount of time Kenya use to commute to and from work by a large margin, easing the traffic jam into the city as well as reduce the number of road accident caused by speeding motorists as they try to maneuver through the traffic. Kenya will join Ethiopia which officially opened its tramway to the public in Addis Ababa in 2015.
