Rwanda has committed to building a logistics hub at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mai Mahiu, Naivasha, in a move aimed at speeding up the movement of its goods from the Port of Mombasa along the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

The commitment was announced during a visit to the zone by a Rwandan delegation led by minister Dr Usta Kayitesi, according to the Kenya News Agency and KBC.

A route for a landlocked country

Dr Kayitesi said the hub would make Rwanda's participation in regional trade more effective, describing the Northern Corridor as central to the ease of doing business. "We are a landlocked country and this becomes one of the best accesses that we have," she said, according to KBC. She also thanked the Kenyan government for donating land for the facility.

The minister noted that Rwanda imports goods worth more than US$300 million from Kenya, and said the hub would shorten distances and ease the flow of cargo from Mombasa through the SEZ to Kigali.

Land for regional neighbours

SEZ Authority chief executive Dr Kenneth Chelule said Kenya has allocated a free 10-acre plot to each participating regional country for a logistics hub within the 6,000-acre zone. Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been allocated land.

South Sudan was the first to break ground on its hub. Its ambassador to Kenya, Simon Deng, said the facility is expected to start operating by 2028. Dr Chelule said Rwanda and Burundi were on course to begin cargo handling operations at the zone.

Growing investor interest

Dr Chelule said the number of local and international investors who have expressed interest in the zone has risen to 24, from 15 earlier in the year, and that the SEZ attracts at least four new investors every quarter. He credited its SGR link, electricity and water supply.

He said 600 housing units for workers are under construction, alongside a school, a hospital, a security unit and a commercial centre. The National Treasury has released Ksh600 million for supporting infrastructure such as water, power and access roads.

Investors in the zone pay corporation tax of about 10 per cent for the first ten years and 15 per cent for the next ten, before the standard 30 per cent rate applies.

Why it matters

The Mai Mahiu zone lies close to the Naivasha Inland Container Depot on the SGR line, and the government hopes it will become a regional trade and manufacturing hub. Northern Corridor executive director Dr John Diir said feasibility studies project cargo handled at Mombasa will rise from about 15 million to 40 million metric tonnes a year within five years.

For Kenya, more regional cargo moving by rail through Naivasha could mean more business for the SGR, jobs for nearby residents and less heavy truck traffic on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. Cost and construction timelines for Rwanda's hub have not been disclosed.

Photo: TTC dude / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0