The cost of SGR is now close to Sh. 1 trillion. This is because the actual cost of constructing the SGR from Mombasa to Kisumu will hit over Sh. 800 billion excluding land compensations once the deal to extend the railway line from Naivasha to Kisumu is signed later this month.
The project, which has come under sharp criticism from a section of Kenyans has been the backbone of Jubilee’s infrastructural development. However, many Kenyans and economists have been casting doubts on its economic viability.
The Mombasa-Nairobi phase cost Sh. 327 billion, the extension to Naivasha costs Sh. 150 billion and the final phase will cost Sh. 380 billion.
The phase 2B of the SGR project will start at the planned Naivasha Industrial Park where Phase 2A ends. It will pass through Narok, Bomet, Kericho counties and terminate in Kisumu where the government will put up a modern inland port. The railway line will have 25 stations including a county station in Kisumu, six intermediate stations, and 18 crossing stations.
The contractor, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) said the laying of tracks and rail sleepers is being carried out from Narok towards Nairobi.
The 120-km Nairobi-Naivasha line is the first of the three segments that make up the second phase of the SGR project that ends in Malaba town located at the Kenya-Uganda border.
Six per cent of the modern railway line to Naivasha will consist of three tunnels measuring 7.147 kilometres and it will also have 27 bridges measuring 17.3 kilo-meters that will account for 14.4 per cent of the total project length.
The five counties where the railway line will pass through include Nairobi, Kajiado, Kiambu, Nakuru and Narok while five modern stations will be installed along its corridor to ease ferrying of cargo and passengers.
Besides Ngong tunnel, two more tunnels measuring 2.64 kilometres have already been constructed along the Nairobi-Naivasha SGR project that is expected to be completed by June 2019.
“The Nairobi-Naivasha SGR project will unleash multiple benefits that include revolutionizing transport of passengers and goods alongside stimulating commerce and industrial growth along its corridor,” said the statement on the FOCAC website.
There will be an establishment of special economic zone (SEZ) in the Mai Mahiu/Suswa region that will be key component of this modern railway project.