When I watched the two presidents William Ruto and Yoweri Museveni announce a series of MOUs at State House last week, I became convinced that SGR extension from Naivasha to Kampala, and petroleum pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala will indeed happen. Priority regional linkage beyond Kampala should be Kigali which has a competing opportunity to link up with Central Corridor SGR from Dar. The oil pipeline extension from Eldoret is a logical development from the recently concluded plan for Uganda-funded direct imports from Arabian Gulf which, with the pipeline extension, will be transhipped direct from Mombasa to Jinja and Kampala. Economic downsides for Kenya are potential loss of Great Lakes exports which will shift to Jinja and Kampala. And should Kenya decide to commercialize Turkana oil with a refinery at Lokichar (with a pipeline linkage to Eldoret), it will be an opportunity for Kenya to export products to Uganda via the extended pipeline to Kampala.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 24, 2024 16:43 UTC