President Kenyatta defends plan to put up Naivasha port

President Uhuru Kenyatta has dismissed claims by the Opposition that the proposed Naivasha dry port is intended to sabotage Mombasa economy.

As he launched the first Standard Gauge Railway freight train to Nairobi on Tuesday, the President said the creation of a special economic zone in Naivasha will not kill operations in Mombasa.

“We have invested approximately $600 million in the expansion of this facility. I think that is a clear indication that we want to make this port the best in Africa,” the President said.

CRITICISMS

The President was launching the freight service train ahead of the start of a passenger service on Wednesday. The event was met with criticism from the opposition leaders who claim the government has exaggerated the cost of the railway and that it is taking port handling business to the hinterland.

Here, he argued the noise around it were only political and called on Kenyans to embrace the new railway built by the Chinese at the cost of Sh327 billion.

“Let us abandon divisive politics and build Kenya together. Whatever your political belief, whoever you support, today we should be together. We should celebrate together.”

The Port and the Railway also represent Kenya’s existence on the international stage. While the latter is a product of a loan from the Chinese, the Port is being expanded with a loan from the Japanese, who have recently been fighting with Beijing for a stake in Africa.

Last year, Kenya launched a  new container terminal at the Port built by a loan of $297Million from the Japan International Corporation agency (JICA). It can handle 550,000 containers a year, improving the Port’s capacity to 1.6 million containers annually. Kenya is to repay the loan in 40 years.

SGR POLITICS

Japan announced it will spend a further $500 million on the port, in its second phase of expansion which involves dredging out the channel the harbour and creating new berths for ships.

But the politics of the railway went beyond the port. Deputy President William Ruto and  Gen (rtd) Jeremiah Kianga who now chairs the Kenya Railway Corporation board described how many interests nearly killed off the start of the SGR construction.

“This is a very proud moment for you (president), for the Jubilee administration and the people of Kenya,” he said.

“We have had to go through very many challenges; the court cases, the environmental issues and the political issues surrounding this project.”

CARTELS

Gen Kianga suggested cartels tried to derail the project further.

“The reason this was challenging was that there was the multiplicity of players and the diversity of interests,” he said.

“And some of them were pulling in directions that were not helpful.”

During the launch, Transport and Infrastructure called on Kenyans  to “to do the right thing” in August 2017.