Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has today visited the Nairobi-Naivasha SGR Phase 2A project site to witness the on-going track laying.
This process commenced on Monday June 18th when the contractor China communication Construction Company started laying T-beams from the end point of Phase 1 at the Nairobi terminus towards Naivasha signalling the start of the track laying process for the Standard Gauge Railway line to Malaba.
The 120km line is the first of the three segments that make up the second phase of the SGR construction that is expected to terminate at Malaba.
The erection of the t-beams and subsequent laying of the rail sleepers will be done from both ends of the line. The construction of the railway stations is already underway at Ongata Rongai,Ngong and Suswa.CCCC is also on course to complete the 4.5km Ngong tunnel in August, the first longest railway tunnel in the country.
Apart from the Ngong tunnel, two more tunnels measuring 2.64km will be constructed along the 120km Naivasha-Nairobi SGR route.
In regard to freight, the Madaraka express was launched on 1st January 2018 and so far 6 pairs of trains are moving on the corridor between Mombasa and Nairobi on a daily basis.
Speaking exclusively to CGTN, Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina, he hailed the Kenya china friendship ties as one that were on a new growth point.
He further revealed that the new SGR phase will be in operation in 8 months
‘’we have promised the president that by February 2019, he will be launching the SGR Phase 2A.Everything will be complete from the SGR tunnel, to the railway stations being constructed in Ongata Rongai,Ngong and Suswa.What better partnership could one ask for than one Kenya has with China’’
The ongoing construction has created a total of 22,000 direct and indirect jobs covering both skilled and unskilled labour.
Once the entire Mombasa-Malaba SGR project is complete, it is expected to deliver safe, efficient and cost effective railway transport, decongest the port of Mombasa, and facilitate easy access to local and foreign markers for produce from Kenya’s hinterland.
Additionally, the SGR intervention is meant to lower the cost of production for Kenyan goods and services, create an estimated 30,000 jobs, reduce environmental degradation occasioned by transportation of goods by road, and reduce the wear and tear of our highways
