Kenya starts talks with Dar to stop controversial Serengeti road project

Kenya has started negotiations with Tanzania to stop plans to build a highway through the Serengeti National Park, a project that would disrupt the annual wildebeest migration.

It is estimated that the road could also hurt Kenya’s tourism goal of generating Sh200 billion by 2012.

Tanzania has approved the building of the major commercial truck to link Arusha and the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya through the park.

Economic viability

The proposed construction — set to begin next year — has also elicited sharp reactions from environment watchdogs, who say it would spoil the fragile ecosystem of Serengeti and the Maasai Mara.

Kenya is betting on the spirit of the East African Community and good neighbourliness to persuade Tanzania to stop the plan.

“We have instructed our Tanzanian High Commission to set the stage for negotiations and we hope to come up with an amicable solution,” said Forestry and Wildlife PS Mohammed Wa-Mwachai.

Dar-es-Salaam’s decision could be driven by the economic viability of the road as it will be linking two of its key towns – Arusha, near Kilimanjaro and Musoma on Lake Victoria.

“The highway will cost the government $480-million and is planned to link Arusha and the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya through the Serengeti National Park,” a statement by Isidori Shirima, Arusha Regional Commissioner said.

The Tanzanian press have been quoted as reporting that the project was part of the Government plan to upgrade roads in its largest national parks as well as create a shortcut between southern and northern parts of the country.

The road cuts directly through the Serengeti wilderness, bisecting the wildebeest migration route— one of the 10 natural travel wonders of the world.

If completed, it will become the first major tarmac road cutting through an East African national park.

Conservationists maintain that the tarmac will be a threat to wildlife and could be disastrous to the migration that has been listed among the wonders of the world.

More than 100,000 tourists visit the Maasai Mara during the peak migration months between July and October and any interruption is likely to impact on Kenya’s fortunes.

“Wildebeest have a problem crossing roads which have heavy human and vehicle traffic, there is nothing elsewhere in the Serengeti with this high capacity for traffic,” said Mr Gideon Gathaara, the Conservation Secretary.