Construction of Navigational Line between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea

Champion : H.E. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt

Description : This project has various components focusing on water management and intermodal transport

Estimated total cost : To be determined

RECs : COMESA, IGAD, EAC and SADC

Countries : Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia, DRC and Tanzania

Background : The project was approved as a PICI project in January 2013, and was launched by the Egyptian Government and the NEPAD Agency in June 2013. The idea is to promote intermodal transport by integrating river, rail and road transport facilities along the Nile Corridor and to develop river management capacity. Intermodal transport integration will include sections along the Trans-Africa Highway (Cape Town–Cairo, Lagos-Mombasa, Dakar-Ndjamena-Djibouti and Cairo-Dakar), various railway lines, as well as the big harbours in Alexandria, Suez Canal, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. Since the project’s inception, Egypt has identified a number of potential project components focusing on the following:

1. Supporting economic development in the Nile Basin by raising the level of trade and transport of goods and people

2. If feasible, constructing a navigational line connecting Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea through the Nile River

3. Establishing river navigation management training centres in some of the footprint states based on the Egyptian experience.

Phase 1 of the project will comprise the section from Lake Albert in Uganda to Khartoum in Sudan; the section from Gambeila in Ethiopia to the White Nile in South Sudan; and the section from Khartoum in Sudan to Aswan in Egypt. Phase 2 will comprise the section from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert, both in Uganda, and the section between the Blue Nile Basin in Ethiopia and the Main Nile in Sudan. This project will boost economic development in the Nile Corridor by increasing trade and regional integration, as well as the transport of goods and people.

Current Status: The project is expected to be completed in 2024, whilst some components are expected to be operational as soon as 2017. A grant by the AfDB of USD 650 000 was approved in August 2015 and Feasibility Studies started in October 2015. A Resource Mobilisation Campaign is on-going to solicit the needed funds for the Feasibility Phase, which is estimated at six to eight million USD.        

Contact:

NEPAD Agency

Dr John Tambi

Senior Advisor – Transport Infrastructure and PICI Coordinator

johnt@nepad.org

Office: +27 11 256 3678 Mobile: +27 83 257 1828

Country Focal Point Egypt

Dr Nehal Adel Director    of the Minister’s Office    for Studies, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation,    

nehal@mwri.gov.eg 

Tel: +202 354 49520