MAULID BILLIE ALI - BILLIE MEDIA: THE NAIVASHA-MALABA SGR PHASE SHOULD COST KSHS 160 BILLION AND NOT THE KSHS 380 BILLION WE ARE BORROWING FOR NAIVASHA TO KISUMU

THE NAIVASHA-MALABA SGR PHASE SHOULD COST KSHS 160 BILLION AND NOT THE KSHS 380 BILLION WE ARE BORROWING FOR NAIVASHA TO KISUMU

The way Kenya is being run is worse than how a kiosk/small shop is run. Take for example the Naivasha-Kisumu SGR project. The initial plan was the following route; Phase 2B {262 km} Naivasha – Narok – Bomet – Nyamira – Kisumu (Includes:) — New Kisumu Port and Phase 2C {107 km} Kisumu – Yala – Mumias – Malaba

I was shocked to read that transport CS, James Macharia claim they have now included a route from Naivasha to Eldoret. He is quoted thus in the Daily Nation; “From Nairobi, it goes to the West, and when you get to Naivasha, one branch (central line) goes through Eldoret and the other one goes to Kisumu (southern line),” he said."

This phase of the project raises a lot of questions
1. What is the point of investing in the new port in Kisumu? While you can transport cargo through the lake to port cities such as Entebbe, Jinja, Bukoba, Mwanza there is no evidence of demand for such services. Are there ports in those town to receive the lake transported cargo?

The SGR priority should be to reach the border and these diversionary ideas should be dropped. They can be revisited at a later date.

2. What is the point of building a dry port in Naivasha? Once the line to the border is done there will be no or little use for this facility. The focus should be to reach the border as soon as possible.

3. What is the point of wasting money on the Eldoret link? Who added this link, when and why? What is there to be transported from Naivasha to Eldoret to justify such an investment at this point?

Those of us who have used that route know it is not busy enough to warrant the SGR link. If there is need for a link it should be from Naivasha to Nakuru. However, even such would only make sense if the SGR is extended to the Nairobi CBD.

4. Going by the cost of construction for the Mombasa-Nairobi phase which was KShs 693 million per km, it would cost KShs 255 Billion from Naivasha to Malaba a distance of 369km. Why is the government seeking KShs 380 Billion for the project? The Naivasha-Malaba phase should even be cheaper since there are no national parks along the route.

The Awash-Woldia/Hara Gebeya railway project will cost Ethiopia KShs 170 Billion for a distance of 390km. With such costing the Naivasha-Malaba section would only cost us KShs 160 Billion. This is money we can raise even from the railway development fund. We need not take additional debt.

The people making these decisions should be arrested and jailed for economic crimes. Kenyans should demand for full disclosure on the SGR project. We are being ripped off.

No comments:

Post a Comment

LIFE TURNS SOUR

She sat behind the wheel of a tinted Toyota corolla, pulled away from Haille Selasia Avenue and joined Mombasa road where Pamela came face t...