Tribunal halts Nairobi-Naivasha SGR construction

The National Environment Tribunal has temporarily stopped the construction of the Naivasha-Nairobi section of the standard gauge railway (SGR) until a dispute challenging it is determined.

“The tribunal directs that all activities relating to the project in question must be stopped until the appeal is heard and determined by the Tribunal,” read the order issued Monday.

The tribunal also directed the principal secretary of the Ministry of Environment, the director-general of the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema), and the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) managing director to respond to the application within 21 days.

Others to respond within the same period are the National Land Commission (NLC), the Principal Secretary Ministry of Transport, China Road & Bridges Corporation (Kenya), the director of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Attorney-General.

The appeal has been filed by activist Okiyah Omtatah and lobby group Kenya Coalition for Wildlife Conservation and Management, claiming that Kenya Railways and the Chinese firm have commenced phase two of the SGR project by tunnelling in Ngong Hills, and approving the route through Nairobi National Park and densely populated areas in Kajiado County, without following the law.

“KRC and China Road & Bridges Corporation (Kenya), have embarked on the second phase of the SGR project without conducting environmental and social impact assessment and without receiving the requisite approval from Nema,” argue the applicants in their papers.

Mr Omtatah and the lobby group claim that Nema’s silence in the face of continuing work on the railway project is tantamount to Nema having licensed the project to be implemented outside the law.

MERE FORMALITIES

They added that the NLC and the KWS have, without the benefit of environmental and social impact assessment, consented to the SGR project being constructed through the middle of the national park, effectively ensuring that any such studies, if ever done, will be mere formalities.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to officially launch the construction of the contested Naivasha-Nairobi section of the railway on September 26 this year, thus clearing the way for the work to begin.

The applicants are seeking orders stopping construction of the phase until the environmental and social impact assessments of the project are carried out.

They also want Nema’s express approval sought before the project is implemented.