{The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has officially joined the Northern Corridor Integration Projects Initiative (NCIPI) during the just concluded eleventh heads of state summit that was held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.}<\/p>\n
DR Congo\u2019s Minister of Transport Justin Kalumba Mwana-Ngongo who attended the summit in Nairobi announced that his country was joining the hitherto, four-member alliance consisting of Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan.<\/p>\n
Monique Mukaruliza, Rwanda\u2019s coordinator of the NCIP, confirmed the development in a statement to Sunday Times yesterday.
\n\u201cDRC has communicated that it has officially joined NCIP and will start with {being part of} the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and other projects will follow,\u201d Mukaruliza said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The NCIPI was established following a meeting on June 25, 2013, in Entebbe by three Presidents, Uganda\u2019s Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda\u2019s Paul Kagame and Kenya\u2019s Uhuru Kenyatta, to discuss how to cooperate and speed up development in the region.
\nSouth Sudan joined the initiative shortly after the initiative\u2019s establishment; yesterday\u2019s summit in Nairobi was the 11th time the leaders are meeting.
\nRwandan leaders who attended the Nairobi summit lauded DR Congo\u2019s entry in the NCIP calling it a significant development that will lead to consolidation of resources to bankroll the region\u2019s ambitious infrastructural projects.
\nThe Nairobi summit was also attended by Ethiopia, Burundi and private sector members from the four principle partner-states {Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan}.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Rwanda\u2019s Mukaruliza also indicated that Ethiopian representatives at the summit announced that the country will join NCIP in the near future.
\nRwanda has important bilateral trade ties with both DRC and Ethiopia; the former is a leading destination of Rwanda\u2019s exports and re-exports while the latter recently reached an agreement to supply Rwanda with 400mw of electricity to address the country\u2019s current energy problem.<\/p>\n
{{DRC entry welcomed}}<\/p>\n
Rwanda\u2019s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Christian Rwakunda, on phone from Nairobi, told Sunday Times yesterday that DRC\u2019s joining is a major boost to the region\u2019s efforts of collectively investing in infrastructure development to facilitate trade.
\n\u201cThe more the countries in NCIP the stronger the partnership and it\u2019s all good for regional trade,\u201d Rwakunda said.<\/p>\n
DRC will reportedly be pushing for the SGR line to be extended to its territory from Uganda, a move that experts say will boost intra-regional trade.
\nIn a tweet sent out on Friday, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of foreign affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo described as \u2018very good value addition\u2019 the attendance of representatives of DRC and Ethiopia.
\nMeanwhile, John Bosco Kalisa, country director of TradeMark East Africa in South Sudan, said, \u201cThe most significant benefits will go to the citizens of this region, enhancing regional public goods such as roads through consolidation of resources for infrastructural development.\u201d
\nKalisa said DRC\u2019s admittance into the initiative will also help strengthen governance, peace and security in the region. \u201cWorking together on development ventures helps unite countries, which will reduce conflicts in the region as countries can easily discuss and iron out their differences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
{{SGR on track}}<\/p>\n
In his address at the summit, yesterday afternoon, President Kenyatta said the region must work towards forging closer partnerships with the aim of encouraging investment in some of the flagship projects such as the SGR.
\n\u201cI’m impressed by the progress achieved so far however we must agree that measures instituted thus far are to a limited extent,\u201d Kenyatta said.
\nDuring yesterday\u2019s summit, Presidents of the four principle member states considered a report that was prepared by the NCIP ministerial committee regarding the progress of major projects.<\/p>\n
The SGR remains the largest undertaking by the NCIP partners. The multi-billion dollar project will connect Mombasa to Malaba on the border with Uganda and continue to the Ugandan capital Kampala enroute to Kigali in Rwanda with a branch line to Juba in South Sudan.
\nAccording to the latest progress report on the project, it is on track and the entire line from Mombasa to Kigali is expected to be completed by 2018 and construction of the first leg from Mombasa to Malaba is underway.<\/p>\n
{{Feasibility studies}}<\/p>\n
The NCIP partner states are looking to, mainly China, to finance the multi-billion dollar SGR but previous meetings with Chinese officials have been hampered by the absence of completed feasibility studies of all sections of the project.
\nHowever, leaders heard at yesterday\u2019s summit that \u2018feasibility studies for all sections including Kampala \u2013 Kigali will be completed by December 2015\u2019 which will pave way for more intensive negotiations with potential financiers of the project.
\nEarlier this year, in March, Uganda signed an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract worth US$3.3billion, with a Chinese firm, China Harbor and Engineering Company (CHEC) for works on the Northern and Eastern routes.
\nCHEC which has also reportedly already submitted a bankable feasibility study for the Malaba-Kampala section of the SGR signed another deal with South Sudan for the engineering, procurement and construction of the Juba-Nimule section whose feasibility study is expected by December.<\/p>\n
{{Public-Private partnership}}<\/p>\n
For the first time since the NCIP summits begun, private sector representatives from the four principle partner states attended and actively contributed to the summit\u2019s deliberations; leaders applauded their presence noting that it will boost private-public partnerships for the projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted to note that our private sector has become an active player in the Northern Corridor Integration Projects,\u201d said President Kenyatta who hosted the summit.
\nA day before the beginning of the summit, members of the Rwanda Private sector met and reached consensus on an agenda that they would collectively present to the leaders.
\nDuring their meeting, Benjamin Gasamagera, the chairman of Private Sector Federation noted that projects being implemented under the NCIP would ease trade within the region but called partner states to expedite their implementation.
\nThe irony in Gasamagera\u2019s call however is that, leaders of the partner states think, faster implementation of the projects require closer partnership and involvement of the private sector.
\nIn a recent interview with Sunday Times, Dennis Karera, Chairman of the East African Business council said it\u2019s encouraging to see that leaders have decided to bring the private sector on the same planning table to directly tap into their experience.
\n\u201cThis is commendable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, as a major challenge, and one that he hopes the NCIP partners can find a solution for, is the high cost of air transport in the region.
\nDuring their pre-summit meeting in Kigali, leaders of the private sector called on countries to work towards finding ways of bringing down the fairs to facilitate regional trade and boost integration.<\/p>\n
But countries are already moving in that direction; recently, Kenya gave RwandAir fifth Freedom rights on the Entebbe-Nairobi-Entebbe route and similar rights on the Nairobi \u2013 Juba \u2013 Nairobi are currently under negotiations.
\nUnder international commercial aviation, \u2018fifth right\u2019 refers to liberty to carry passengers from one’s own country to a second country, and from that country to a third country.<\/p>\n
The next NCIP summit will be held in Kigali during which partner states have agreed to officially sign the Bilateral Air services Agreements (BASA) that will liberalize international commercial air transport services between their territories.<\/p>\n
The New Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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