"The National Treasury and China's Exim Bank will soon finalise compliance, before disbursement of the funds and the start of construction," says the Kenyan government.
The extension will serve a planned industrial park in Naivasha which China will construct, while the Chinese also intend to fund the expansion of a container terminal at Embakasi in Nairobi.
The extension, which will be designed for operation by 80km/h freight and 120km/h passenger trains, will eventually form part of the planned 489km line from Nairobi to Malaba on the Ugandan border.
The Kenyan government says the $US 3.6bn Mombasa - Nairobi line, which is being built by China Roads & Bridge Corporation, is now 60% complete. Construction of passenger stations and other facilities has started, and the procurement of locomotives and rolling stock is well advanced.
