EDITORIAL: Commuter railway service plan for Mombasa timely

Most Kenyan towns were planned years back, meaning the explosion of urban population in the past one-and-a-half decade has stretched infrastructure and social services thin. From large cities like Nairobi to smaller ones like Voi, movement within urban centers has become a nightmare.
Besides the psychological torture on inhabitants of the towns, there is a huge toll on the economy. When people get late for work—and in addition arrive tired, business is delayed and fuel burnt on the road unnecessarily, the economy suffers a huge loss. Investors will always take note and vote with their feet.
The national government has been sharply aware of this. The speed and the prioritisation of projects that could address these shortfalls is the issue though.
On Tuesday the Kenya Railways Corporation, a parastatal, advertised an international tender for a commuter railway service for Mombasa. While it might be argued, depending on where you stand, that Nairobi is a more urgent case and more important due to its contribution to the economy, it is a move in the right direction. Mombasa is an equally important city handling many tourists and a busy port and an international airport.
Business should be made easier if it is to compete with other global destinations and business hubs. The issue of land grabbing and poor planning in Nairobi may as well make implementing such plans difficult in the short term.
But going forward, the focus of the government should be commuter railways that are already planned in Nairobi and other congested towns. Planning around exclusive road transport is guaranteed to fail.
Kenya Railways should stick to the infrastructure construction and leave the running of the trains to the private sector.
This should be at the core of the commuter railway system, which should have trains and staff handled by the private sector. All the important cost, environmental and social impact issues should addressed upfront so that we don’t end up with a costly white elephant.