Work on SGR Naivasha section stopped after youths attack Chinese contractors
What you need to know:
The Chinese firm, which is also building the Sh327 billion Mombasa-Nairobi line, was awarded the Naivasha section contract without public bidding. The award of the Mombasa-Nairobi contract to CRBC also sparked widespread criticism.
Mr Sekuda, Paul Otuoma (Funyula) and Esther Murugi (Nyeri Town) accused the KRC and CRBC of collusion to exclude ministry officials from the ongoing construction work.
Construction work on the Sh150 billion Nairobi-Naivasha section of the standard gauge railway (SGR) has been stopped pending a determination of its pathway, Parliament was told yesterday.
Transport principal secretary (PS) Irungu Nyakera told MPs that the Chinese firm contracted to build the railway line, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), had moved on site before the line’s route map was determined.
“The route has not been officially presented to the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) board for approval. The official route has not been confirmed and we only learned last Thursday that the contractor had moved to the ground and mobilised,” he said.
The Chinese firm, which is also building the Sh327 billion Mombasa-Nairobi line, was awarded the Naivasha section contract without public bidding. The award of the Mombasa-Nairobi contract to CRBC also sparked widespread criticism.
The government acknowledged that there was no public bidding, which it said was a condition of Chinese financiers of the project even as some legislators complained that the single sourcing had led to overpricing of the contract.
Mr Nyakera said the ministry learnt of the activity in the Naivasha segment of the contract after youths in Narok County attacked and injured Chinese workers at a place known as Duka Moja.
“It is then that I called the KRC managing director, Athanas Maina, and asked him to go to the ground and find out what was happening. We held a meeting with the CRBC yesterday and agreed that the works be stopped until all necessary approvals are granted,” Mr Nyakera told the National Assembly’s Lands committee.
Mr Nyakera said the ministry had not resolved the issue of the route to Rift Valley from the Embakasi exit point.
“We are yet to determine whether or not the SGR will pass through the Nairobi National Park or not. We expect to conclude this by the end of week and issue a final position next week,” the PS said.
The committee had sought an explanation from the PS on the progress so far made in compensating the residents of Kajiado and Nakuru counties whose land is earmarked for appropriation by the railway builders.
Kajiado West MP Moses Ole Sekuda and John Kihage (Naivasha) wanted to know why the railway was being built yet land and property owners had not been compensated as required by law.
“In my constituency, the contractor has already tunneled 37 kilometres which passes next to my house. How has the contractor been allowed to proceed with the project yet we as leaders, property and land owners have not been consulted?” Mr Sekuda asked.
Mr Kihage said CRBC had purchased a piece of land from two different claimants and put up four construction sites.
Room for speculation “There are people going round telling landowners that they will influence the SGR to pass through their land and are fleecing them off. The government appears to be allowing room for such speculation,” he said.
Mr Sekuda, Paul Otuoma (Funyula) and Esther Murugi (Nyeri Town) accused the KRC and CRBC of collusion to exclude ministry officials from the ongoing construction work.
“It seems the ministry has given the Chinese to manage us instead of us managing the Chinese. Are we under the Chinese government or the Chinese government contractors are under us?” Ms Murugi asked.
Lands committee chairman Alex Mwiru said there was a lot of insider dealings involving the KRC and CRBC officials on the building of the rail.
Mr Nyakera said the contractor went ahead to mobilise and start construction works after the government signed a contract for the second phase.
“They had 56 months but the government pushed them to cut by one and a half months. The second phase was to be launched on September 26 this year and that is why the contractor moved to build the tunnel.
This is the entry point of SGR into the Rift Valley and it’s the place where President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to launch the project. That’s why the contractor is ahead of us,” the PS said.
Phase 1 of the SGR is almost complete and the government had acquired 99.8 per cent of the land, he said, adding that the Mombasa-Nairobi segment is expected to be complete in June next year.
“The SGR is taking shape with 80 per cent of the civil works completed. The KRC has begun acquiring 56 trains and 1,620 freight wagons; they are expected to arrive by March next year ahead of June completion of the line,” he said.
Mr Nyakera said compensation for the Nairobi-Naivasha section was yet to commence.
The SGR will be extended from Nairobi to Naivasha in the second phase, then to Malaba through Kisumu. Uganda will connect its planned rail to the SGR through Malaba while Rwanda will connect through Mirama to Kigali.
