Indian Firm in deal with LREB Counties To Build Railway Interconnectivity

At the moment, the national railway line only serves Kisumu, Nandi, Narok and Kericho. But this is expected to change with the multi-billion project which is expected to serve all other counties in the bloc which include Homa Bay, Kisii, Kakamega, Trans Nzoia, Vihiga, Bungoma, Siaya, Nyamira, Migori and Bomet.

LREB CEO Victor Nyagaya said that the project targets to enhance connectivity between the counties, boosting travel and trade.

“Expansion of the railway transport in the lake region will enhance trade. We are talking about more than 15 million people who will benefit from this initiative,” Nyagaya said.

“Serving the counties with rail transport will make the venture very cheap,” he added.

Representatives from ProCorp Enertech Limited India, the Indian firm expected to carry out the project, have begun pre-feasibility study to determine the cost of the project.

Nyagaya said that once the study is complete, he and other officials from the bloc will submit the proposal for the project to the government of India for approval before it is forwarded to the World Bank for funding.

ProCorp Enertech Private Limited CEO Dr. Raju Gannavarapu said that they will undertake the project through strategic partnership with NGSL, an Indian technology company.

He further revealed that the railway line will run through a green grid, a technology that they are well versed in.

 “We are promoting green grids and solar for communities which are cheap and sustainable,” Raju said.

Other than the railway project, the lake region is also eyeing cheaper power options in a project that will also be conducted in partnership with the India experts.

The power project which will also be overseen by Raju and his company is expected to establish power options that will lower the cost of energy production by half.

“The only key challenge in production is the cost of power which is untenably high. But with the energy model that we will provide, the cost of production will be reduced by up to 50 per cent,” Raju said.