Kenya and the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) have signed an agreement for the construction of the Naivasha-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway line under the Kenya SGR Developments Project valued at Sh549 billion.

This comes after the Cabinet approved signing of the commercial contracts between Kenya Railways and China Communications Construction Company.

The four commercial contracts for the development of the four elements of the project include Naivasha- Kisumu, Kisumu-Malaba, Kisumu Port Development and Modernization and expansion of the Inland Container Depot at Embakasi in Nairobi.

Kenya is constructing a Standard Gauge Railway between Mombasa and Malaba as part of the East African Community protocol for the development of an SGR connecting the port of Mombasa to Kampala, Kigali and Juba.

The entire network is supposed to be in operation by December 2018 and member states are working towards meeting the timelines of the directive.

So far the first phase of the project from Mombasa to Nairobi is 75 percent complete, to be finalised in June 2017 while the second phase of the project from Nairobi to Naivasha is set to begin in June 2016.

Phase 2 (Nairobi-Malaba) has been divided into three sub-phases as follows: Phase 2A Nairobi-Naivasha

Phase 2B Naivasha- Kisumu including the development of a new high capacity port at Kisumu and Phase 2C Kisumu-Malaba.

The government has secured a loan from the Government of the Peoples Republic of China to support the development of Phase 2A.

The total contract price for this section is US$ 1.5 billion (Sh150billion).

The signing of these contracts valued at US$ 5.4 billion marks yet another significant milestone regarding the Kenya - China cooperation for the mutual benefit of the peoples of the two countries.

During the bilateral talks held between President Uhuru Kenyatta and President of the Peoples Republic of China on the sidelines of the China Africa Forum (FOCAC) in Johannesburg South Africa in December 2015, the two presidents reinstated their commitment to deepen the cooperation between the two states for the mutual benefit of the citizens of the two countries.