Kenya has introduced a 1.5% levy on all home-use imports to fund a standard gauge railway construction, the president's office said in a statement Friday.

President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law Finance Act 2013 Thursday that amends the Customs and Excise Act by

introducing a Railway Development Levy to be paid on all goods imported into the country for home use.

The levy will be charged at a rate of 1.5% on the customs value of goods and will be paid by the importer, the statement said.

The construction project, scheduled to start next month and to be completed in 2017 at a cost of $5.2 billion, will supplement Kenya's northern rail corridor with 120 kilometers-an-hour freight trains and 180 kilometers-an-hour passenger fleets. The project aims to transfer freight and passengers from costly road to rail transportation.

The proposed project will be financed through a public-private partnership and implemented under the Kenya Railway Corporation and Rift Valley Railways. It is expected to connect the gateway port of Mombasa to Kampala, Uganda, and Kigali, Rwanda.