- Sh3 billion work expected to be completed in five months; undertaken by Kenya Railways Corporation
- Line snakes through Nyeri, Murang’a and Kiambu counties to Nairobi
Image: EUTYCUS MUCHIRI
No resident will be evicted or business destroyed during rehabilitation of the old Nairobi-Nanyuki railway line, Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina has said.
In an interview with the Star yesterday, the senator said the region’s leaders consulted government officials implementing the project to ensure the interest of the residents are safeguarded.
“As the project kicks off, there is an assurance that the discussions that are going on will reach amicable solutions where there will be co-existence of the railway line and the people alongside their economic activities,” he said.
Rehabilitation of the 240km railway line has commenced in Laikipia. The line snakes through Nyeri, Murang’a and Kiambu counties to Nairobi. Its rehabilitation is expected to spur economic growth in Central Kenya.
The Sh3 billion work on the metre-gauge railway line expected to be completed in five months is undertaken by Kenya Railways Corporation. The corporation has already injected Sh1 billion while the remainder will be provided by the national government.
The line was constructed in 1913 and extended to Nanyuki during World War II to supply British forces.
It became a lifeline for farmers in the agriculturally rich region and who transported produce from Nanyuki, Karatina and Sagana.
The senator said the region's leaders support President Uhuru Kenyatta’s initiative to revive the line. He said once back in operation, the line will provide affordable transport for local farmers ferrying their commodities to the market while enabling the establishment of special economic zones in areas near railway stations.
The line will also be crucial in reviving the real estate sector and opening up rural areas for trade and creating jobs for many youths, he said.
Some residents have however expressed fears that the rehabilitation would bring misery to traders whose businesses along the line will be demolished. Kiambu, Nyeri and Laikipia have hundreds of traders with business stalls next to the line, most of them women.
“What we want to assure is that there will be no eviction of the people and destruction of their property. We have a government that is keen to ensure that ordinary people are facilitated as much as possible towards improvement of their lives,” Maina said.
The government will undertake the work in three stages to speed up the process and have the railway line ready for use by the end of May.
One group will work on the Nanyuki-Marua section, the second group on the Marua-Sagana section while the third will cover the Sagana-Thika stretch.
Cohorts from the National Youth Service and technicians from the Kenya Defence Forces will be deployed later once the bush clearing is complete.