Renowned economist David Ndii has once again described the Standard Gauge Railway project as an overpriced and ill conceived project that will not benefit Kenyans.

According to Mr. Ndii, the subsidised cargo services have led to loss of jobs. “From an economic perspective, you’d do more harm if you let it stay,” Ndii said during an event in Mombasa.

The economist says that the government is unnecessarily spending too much public money on the service. He further adds that the government’s decision to subsidise freight services is for it to keep the overpriced railway. “The fact that the SGR can only operate with the public subsidy, particularly in government servicing its debts, means that you have taken money that would otherwise have been used to provide services to poor people,” he said.

Ndii said the government is clearly “undermining the economy of a historically undermined region in favour of a historically advantaged part of the country… We tried to flag the issues around the project but the government did not organise sufficient public consultation and it did not disclose all the factors.”

Mr. Ndii went on to reveal that he had personally proposed that the project was not the country’s highest priority.

“At that the time we were still trying to finance Lapsset. We did not have financing for Lapsset. So, I suggested a better railway to evaluate the viability would be one from Lamu to Thika,” he said.

Ndii further added that the government was negligent in its work claiming that the feasibility studies on the SGR is not viable.

“There was violation of process, if you look on information on which this railway was built and feasibility studies they are very shoddy and dishonest.”