Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina. PHOTO | FILE
By GERALD ANDAE, gandae@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
More park land will be carved out to create room for
the construction of the second phase of the standard gauge railway (SGR)
that runs from Nairobi to Naivasha.
Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) managing director Atanas
Maina said six kilometres of the rail will run inside the Nairobi
National Park in what looks set to trigger a standoff with
conservationists.
The new Mombasa-Nairobi line will run on the edge
of the park and not deeper inside, but this did not stop Friends of
Nairobi National Park (Fonnap) lobby from opposing the project.
The 120km Naivasha route will cost Sh150 billion and its construction by a Chinese firm will start in September.
The KRC has submitted three options to the Kenya
Wildlife Service (KWS) for technical assessment before settling on the
final route.
“Phase 2A of the SGR will cut a substantial section
of the park unlike the previous phase that passed at the boarder of the
animal reserve,” said Mr Maina.
“We believe through these options, there is a
sustainable solution that achieves a desirable balance between
infrastructure development and environmental conservation,” he added.
The first option, which the corporation is rooting
for, will see a rail bridge run across the park—which Mr Maina said
poses minimal interruption to the wildlife’s movement.
The second option is to build a tunnel. This seems
difficult because the park is low lying and the required gradient cannot
be achieved, according to the KRC.
The third option is to have the track around the
park to Athi River before cutting back to Naivasha. This will increase
the cost of the line because of the extra 40 kilometres line.
The additional costs are estimated at Sh27.7
billion based on the Sh692 million needed to build a kilometer of the
Mombasa-Nairobi line.
“The Athi River route will make the SGR more costly as it will make the line longer than is expected,” he said.
The corporation last year signed an agreement with
the KWS and the National Land Commission (NLC) allowing it to realign
the path of the line into the park.
This was to avoid a huge compensation bill for
industries and residential estates in Mlolongo and Athi River that were
in SGR’s original path.
No comments :
Post a Comment