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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 1.15em; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">What started as a tripartite initiative between Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, to speed up the flow of cargo, and development in the railway and crude oil sectors, quickly evolved, culminating in a 50 per cent reduction in call rates across partner states - under the One Network Area; drastic improvements in transit time, from 16 days to under 5 days between Mombasa and Kampala, and the waiving of visa fees to name a few.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 1.15em; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Notwithstanding, all of these projects have hitherto been implemented directly by governments, whose modus operandi and funding sources all but guarantee foreign companies contracts, much to the detriment of local firms in the region.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 1.15em; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 1.15em; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2016-02-23/197338/" target="_blank">http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2016-02-23/197338/</a></p> </div></body>
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