Former PS says Kimunya halted study on rail plan

Former Transport minister Amos Kimunya. FILE 

By EDWIN MUTAI, emutai@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Former Transport PS Cyrus Njiru said that Mr Kimunya instructed him to write to the then KRC managing director Nduva Muli to stop the study.

Former Transport minister Amos Kimunya halted feasibility study for the standard gauge railway by Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), a former top State official has said.

Former Transport PS Cyrus Njiru said that Mr Kimunya instructed him to write to the then KRC managing director Nduva Muli to stop the study.

“The instructions were both verbal and written. The minister directed me to communicate to the management that the standard gauge railway had been discussed in Cabinet and that China had already agreed on a government-to-government agreement to finance the project,” Dr Njiru told the Public Investment Committee.

“The government advised the implementing agency (KRC) not to undertake a parallel study, as doing so would be a duplication of a study that was already being undertaken without any cost to the government.”

When he appeared before PIC two weeks ago, Mr Kimunya said his intervention to stop a parallel study saved the country Sh1 billion. The committee, however, declared him a hostile witness and threw him out.

READ: PIC declares Kimunya hostile witness in railway probe drama

It invited Dr Njiru, an international consultant on infrastructure development and management based in London, to shed light on the controversial railway project that was awarded China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).

The House team is investigating how the tender for the Sh448 billion Mombasa-Nairobi section of the railway line was awarded without competitive bidding.

CRBC undertook the study at no cost to the government but on condition that the findings and preliminary designs would not be shared with any other firm.

The committee decided to investigate the contract after Nyali MP Hezron Awiti and Nandi Hills lawmaker Alfred Keter questioned CRBC capacity and the costs of construction. Mr Keter has insisted the tender was single sourced and over-priced.

On Thursday, Dr Njiru defended the project saying the development of the Mombasa-Nairobi-Malaba-Kampala-Kigali/South Sudan “is a regional initiative with considerable positive impact on regional integration and trade.

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“I recall that I chaired a meeting in Munyonyo Kampala comprising PSs from 26 countries in the East African Community, Comesa and SADC where the issue of standard gauge railway was mooted,” Dr Njiru told MPs.

“The Summit of Heads of States and Governments approved it among five other regional infrastructure projects.”

Minority Leader Francis Nyenze sought to know the cost of building the railway from Mombasa to Malaba.

Dr Njiru said the concerns raised by MPs would be addressed in the implementation section of the feasibility study