Kigali, 30 April, 2019: Minister of State in charge of Transport, Hon. Eng.Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye presented to the Chamber of Deputies, the draft law approving the ratification of the agreement between the Government of Rwanda and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania for the joint implementation of Isaka-Kigali Standard Gauge Railway Project, signed at Kigali, in on 09 March 2018.

In his presentation, Minister of State in charge of Transport Hon. Eng.Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, mentioned that during the second Ministerial meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda on 9th March 2018, Rwanda and Tanzania signed a bilateral agreement with the aim of fostering the implementation of the Heads of States directives given on 14th January 2018, regarding the implementation of Isaka-Kigali Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Project.

“Isaka-Kigali SGR (532 Km) is a joint project between the Government of Rwanda and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania with a total cost of $3.6 billion, of which of $2.3 billion for Tanzania of 394 Km and $1.3 billion for Rwandan section of 138 Km”, he said.

According to the agreement, the two countries agreed on the following: to mobilize funds for the section in its territory in collaboration with the other Party and own the infrastructure within its territory; to adopt a common operational and maintenance manual to allow seamless operation. : The Manual shall be a framework for national regulatory authorities of the Parties; to put in place policies to maximize the utilization of the Standard Gauge Railway line; to adopt a common Legal Framework to ease the implementation of the project taking the reference of the East African Community Infrastructure Protocol that can be used as a reference to develop that legal framework and to co-finance the operationalization of the Project Implementation Unit.

The two countries also agreed on the financing modalities, with Tanzania seeking a loan to fund the Isaka-Rusumo stretch and Rwanda opting for a public-private partnership model for its stretch of the line.

Highlighting the progress on the sections preceding Isaka-Kigali, Minister of State said that” as of February, 2019 the construction progress of Dar Es Salaam-Morogoro (205 Km) was estimated at 45.9%; Morogoro-Makutupora (336 Km), at 7.12% and the section Makutupora-Isaka (427 Km) was under fund mobilization”.

As it has been already ratified by the Government of United Republic of Tanzania, today the Rwandan Parliament approved aforementioned draft law with three articles. The ratification of this agreement is an important step that will enable the Government of Rwanda to mobilize funds.

When completed, the railway line is expected to improve trade between the two countries by making it easy and cheaper for people and cargo to move across the common border.