The Chinese government has approved a loan for construction of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) between Naivasha and Kisumu, Transport Cabinet Secretary says.
Macharia, who spoke to Daily Nation on the sidelines of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) in Beijing on Tuesday, said China’s Ministry of Commerce okayed the required funds for the modern railway line.
“In fact, the funds had been approved by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and are now with Exim Bank, which is looking into financial dynamics of lending according to the structure of each country,” said Macharia.
Macharia also explained that the SGR is not a Kenyan project but a regional one and denied claims that China had declined to fund the Naivasha-Kisumu stretch.
“SGR was conceptualized by heads of four countries; that is Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan and they signed a document called SGR Protocol, which contains commitments that require every country to complete its bit.”
“However, Kenya is going on with completing its part and at no point did China give ultimatums that this country needs to do this and that to get funding,” noted Macharia.
He also said that Phase 2A of the SGR project between Nairobi and Naivasha is 98 percent complete and is expected to be operational in September this year.
CS Macharia further defended the government’s decision to rehabilitate the old meter gauge railway from Naivasha to Malaba.
“Since by September we will start receiving goods at Naivasha from Mombasa and Naivasha-Kisumu is not yet ready — even if we start today it will take three to four years — we had to rehabilitate the old railway to Malaba so that while it will take nine hours for goods to arrive in Naivasha, it should take the same time for the goods to reach Uganda, which is our biggest client. Without modernizing it, it might take two days,” said the CS.
There were reports that China had declined to fund the Naivasha-Kisumu SGR line during Kenyatta’s trip to Beijing in April but Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma rubbished the claims, saying that the project was not part of the president’s agenda. Kenya was seeking Sh380 billion for the project.
“In fact, the SGR extension beyond Naivasha was never a priority agenda for the current mission to Beijing,” she said.
