It has been two years since the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project was launched on Madaraka Day. There was a lot of excitement, with tickets being fully booked six months in advance. Back then the rail project would have been relevant when undertaking a SWOT test for any business that undertook cargo transportation in Kenya. SGR was either an opportunity or a threat. The public was very excited about the project and it was the pride of Kenya.
Two years later, the SGR has drawn a lot of public criticism and a lot of scandals. It has become the subject of political debates. Is this level of criticism warranted? I invite you to be the judge after reading a few interesting facts about this project.
The SGR finds a lot of foundational basis on national and regional policies. It is a Vision 2030 project. Furthermore, it is a project of the East African Community (EAC). One of the relevant integration pillars of the EAC is free movement of goods, people and capital. The EAC also has a committee on infrastructure that recognises the importance of transport and a harmonised approach to transport for the development of the EAC. All EAC countries are expected to initiate and complete their individual SGR projects.
The Rwanda SGR project has already begun and so has the Tanzania one. As at last year Uganda had not yet began its SGR project as it waited for the one to reach the border town of Malaba. The regional SGR is expected to link the EAC countries and make it easier for cargo to be transported. It was expected to facilitate transportation of people and cargo from Mombasa to Congo. Currently most of such cargo is transported by road.
The aim was therefore quite in line with the EAC Treaty and EAC integration goals. Imagine travelling by rail from Mombasa to Kigali. Cargo transportation from Mombasa to Kampala would have taken a maximum of two days..
Before the Kenyan SGR project began, a lot of technical and financial studies were done advising on the best design, technical and financial models to implement the project.
There is, however, no need to overreact about the SGR but rather understand the challenges and handle them well. It still is a project to be proud about two years later.
The project was faced with a lot of legal issues, mostly touching on land and environment. There were a few scandals about compensation on land compulsorily acquired for the project. Unfortunately there was alleged corruption at this stage giving the project a bad image.
For the project to be of maximum impact, EAC partner states ought to also initiate their national SGR’s. Unfortunately this has not been the case. Lack of firm commitment by remaining partner states threatens the commercial viability of the project. The SGR’s main aim is to facilitate cargo transportation from Mombasa to Kenya’s landlocked neighbours. Hopefully Uganda will firmly commit to developing its national SGR for all to fully gain benefits of the project.
The EAC laws on railway transportation are not harmonised further posing a challenge to the project. There is little institutional support at regional level for implementation of SGR and finally little support from the EAC legislative assembly.
If these challenges are mitigated then I believe there is everything to be proud about the SGR project.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
