Kenya Railways has paid the environmental restoration fee, a precondition for starting civil works, paving the way for the mega project.
The State owned corporation had submitted three options to Kenya Wildlife Service that it considered friendly in order to deter opposition from conservationists.
According to KWS, the decision to build a bridge over the park was the most viable choice out of the seven options.
The second option was to build a tunnel, which alternative was seen as not viable as the area across the park is low lying making.
The third option was to have the second phase go back all the way to Athi River before heading back to Naivasha, to avoid it cutting through the park.
Construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR) along Nairobi National Park will commence next month after completion of a survey and technical work by the contractor.
The Business Daily can also reveal that Kenya Railways has paid the environmental restoration fee, a precondition for starting civil works, paving the way for the mega project. The development is likely to renew bad blood between environmentalists and the government who have been at loggerheads on the plans, resulting to a court case that delayed the progress.
“We have done survey and technical work already and I can confirm that construction work will start next month,” said Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina.
Even as Mr Maina maintained the environment restoration fees were yet to be disbursed, sources close to the matter said Kenya Railways paid the money last week to pave the way for construction to begin. “Kenya Railways has paid part of the money for environmental restoration as one of the conditions issued to them,” said an official who can not be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The State owned corporation had submitted three options to Kenya Wildlife Service that it considered friendly in order to deter opposition from conservationists who said that the project would interfere with the ecosystem.
Kenya Railways has opted for the construction of a bridge from one end of the park to the exit point, with the railway firm noting that this will have minimal interruption to the wildlife as they will still have room to cross to either side of the park, hence not hampering movement. Environmentalists argue that building a railway in the park will destabilise the balance between humans and wildlife as animals move from their natural habitats to areas inhabited by communities.
“Kenya is a great place for wildlife and what will actually happen is that the moment these wildlife move out and they get affected by people it will make the park less attractive,” said the environmentalists.
“Kenya is a great destination for safari and Nairobi National Park being the oldest represents all the other 68 in the country,” they added in a previous interview.
Not viable
According to KWS, the decision to build a bridge over the park was the most viable choice out of the seven options.
Kenya Railways last year signed an agreement with the KWS and the National Land Commission allowing it to realign the path of the line into the park.
This was to avoid a huge compensation bill for industries and residential estates in Mlolongo and Athi River which were on the original route.
The second option was to build a tunnel, which alternative was seen as not viable as the area across the park is low lying making it difficult to attain the required gradient.
The third option was to have the second phase go back all the way to Athi River before heading back to Naivasha, to avoid it cutting through the park. This option would have extended the line by 40 kilometres making it expensive.
The Sh327 billion railway line, to be commissioned in June, is designed to carry 22 million tonnes of cargo per year (about 40 per cent of the Mombasa port throughput) by 2035.
Freight trains will have a capacity of 216 containers ferried at an average speed of 80 km/h.
