Land pay row to further delay SGR’s 2nd phase

The completion of phase two of the standard gauge railway (SGR) may be delayed as the Kenya Railways Corporation and National Land Commission (NLC) are still locking horns with land owners in Kajiado County over land compensation.

The project is currently 77 per cent complete. The 120km Nairobi-Naivasha stretch, expected to cost taxpayers Sh150 billion, was planned to be completed by the end of May 2019.

The China Communications Construction Company Limited, which is working on the project, has been forced to skip the Ongata Rongai–Ngong stretch over compensation issues. The project had already begun after land owners entered an agreement with the Kenya Railway Corporation (KR). However delay in compensation has stalled the project.

The first section of phase two cuts across the Nairobi National Park to Ong’ata Rongai ward, Kajiado North sub county.

The project has come to a halt from the populous Olekasasi, Limpa and Ololua estates, to Ngong tunnel.

While inspecting the completed Ngong 4.1km tunnel, KR engineers and NLC acting chairperson pointed out that land compensation has been a thorny issue.

It took the contractor 23 months to complete the tunnel said to be the second longest railway tunnel in Africa after Morocco’s.

The NLC acting chairperson Abigail Mbagaya said there are 1,093 parcels of land from Syokimau — on the outskirts of Nairobi — to Ngong earmarked for compensation but it has become hard to move families without compensation.

Ms Mbagaya said land acquisition process has been faced by myriad challenges.

“The National Land Commission is entitled to help in land acquisition for government projects but compensation issue as stipulated in the constitution has been a daunting task especially in populous Kajiado North sub county,” she said.