Editor,

It was nice to read in the New Times of yesterday that the ambitious joint project to construct a standard gauge railway line from the proposed inland port of Isaka in Tanzania to Kigali initially, before extending it to Bujumbura and onto Eastern Congo, is on course as the feasibility and route studies are now nearing completion.

Right now, the cost of imported goods in exorbitant because most of our goods are either flown in by plane, or they are transported by trailers from the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. When the railway starts functioning I’m sure that imports will be cheaper for we, the buyers.

And secondly, our exports will be cheaper, therefore we’ll be able to compete more favourably on the international market in products like coffee and tea. The people conducting the various studies should hurry up so that they real work of railway construction can begin.

I’m proposing that funds to construct it come from the people of East Africa. This will be done by privatising the railways construction and operation and then inviting the general public to invest in the said railway company.

That is what happened in many European nations especially the United Kingdom.

Joy Muhire
Kacyiru