The SGR project and Tanzania route are both important

Editor, RE: “Rwanda won’t opt out of Northern Corridor Standard Gauge Railway project – Govt” (The New Times, May 19). As a Kenyan, I am happy to hear that Rwanda is not walking away from Northern Corridor SGR, but working on a plan that will concurrently rely on its good relations with both Kenya and Tanzania to advance not only its interests but also the collective interests of the whole region through the railroads. However, I would urge the Rwandan Government to broadcast this position much more loudly to the world. The reason is because media outlets from various parts of the world, based on the earlier misreporting on the topic, are spreading all sorts of innuendo about the impact of the decision by Rwanda to use the Tanzanian route on the existing cordial relations among the members of the East African Community. In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to urge the peoples of East Africa not to lose sight of the vision and mission that originally created the East African Community that is currently powering the economic renaissance of the region. Let us hold hands and march forward together in unity and fraternity. We stand to gain more from collaboratively confronting our problems than from working separately. Who knows? In the future, we could evolve into a super state out of our collaboration. We could come up with something really ingenious with which to represent ourselves to the world – something like “The United Republic of Swahili Speakers”. Imagine how incredibly beautiful that would be. We would have everything within our borders – oil, coal, diamonds, great cities, large scale infrastructural projects – and, above all, the most interesting community of peoples the world has ever seen. Namwacha **************************** I guess anyone would understand the available choices for Rwanda with which line to start with. It’s very clear that in terms of cost, the cost difference between the SRG in the Northern Corridor and that through Tanzania are quite different; and in business terms, if time was to be given value, the Tanzanian route is closer to realization than the Kenyan route. However, given the benefits that come with the consolidation of the market within the entire East African Community and the need to capture the whole 150-million market benefit, Rwanda will definitely in the future need to connect with both lines. The speed at which all these infrastructures need to be put in place and the desire to realize our national agenda, comparisons here would not count. Richard Niwenshuti

Opinions

The SGR project and Tanzania route are both important