Four presidents to attend ground-breaking ceremony

Four heads of state from the East Africa Community converge in Changamwe, Mombasa today to preside over the ground-breaking ceremony for the standard gauge railway line whose construction is expected to cost Sh1.2 trillion.

President Uhuru Kenyatta will lead Presidents Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Salva Kiir (South Sudan) in the ceremony.

The line to be built by the China Communications Construction Company will run from Mombasa to Malaba, Kampala and then Kigali and later to Juba.

(VIDEO: Mombasa-Nairobi trip to take 4 hours)

Construction work will be undertaken in three phases with Phase One starting from Mombasa to Nairobi, followed by Nairobi-Malaba and Kisumu in Phase Two and Malaba-Kisumu to Kampala in Phase Three. The projected completion date is 2016.

Wednesday, President Kenyatta met Mr Liu Qitao, the head of the company that will build the Mombasa-Nairobi railway at State House Nairobi.

He said the railway was one of the Vision 2030 flagship projects and the largest to be undertaken in the country in 50 years.

“The project will define my legacy as President of Kenya and it is my personal desire that the implementation is done to the highest standard,” Mr Kenyatta said. “Kenya will fully meet its obligations towards the project. I will personally oversee its implementation.”

He also said Kenya was working closely with Uganda and Rwanda to ensure the railway extends to their countries because the project’s success would boost ties between the neighbouring countries.

Mr Liu said his company would ensure that the work is of high quality work and that it is completed on time. The firm has expressed interest in developing the Lamu port and other urbanisation programmes in various cities.

“All the resources necessary for the successful project implementation, including personnel and finances, have been mobilised,” said Mr Liu.

In Parliament, four MPs questioned the process through which the Chinese company was awarded the contract to build the railway line.

During a press conference at Parliament Buildings, Mr Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills, URP), Mr Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town, ODM), Mr Suleiman Dori (Msambweni, ODM) and Mr Simba Arati (Dagoretti North, ODM) said the project was overpriced and was likely to become a burden on Kenyan taxpayers. They also questioned why the contract was single-sourced.

The MPs said the tender should have been handled as required by the Public Procurement and Disposal Act and its regulations, which demand a competitive bidding process.

“In as much as we support the initiative, we do not support the process of single sourcing the contractor. The loan from Exim Bank will be paid through public funds and it is important that the process to identify the contractor is transparent and follows the laid down procurement laws,” said Mr Keter.

Mr Keter also cited a report in the Press that the Attorney General had written to the Public Procurement Oversight Authority warning that the award of the contract was in breach of the law.