The plan by the government for the Standard Gauge Railway to be extended to Kisumu is welcome as it will enhance lake transport.
It will also breathe new life to Kisumu port, which has been idle since Kenya Railways terminated services on the route.
A functional railway will see cargo come through rail then loaded to a ship and transported to the neigbouring countries - Uganda and Tanzania through Jinja and Mwanza respectively.
But if the railway is connected directly to Uganda through Malaba, then the government is definitely going to kill lake transport.
Why should somebody offload his cargo into a vessel when it can be directly taken into Uganda? We have a railway line from Nakuru, Eldoret to Malaba and therefore, the proposed Kisumu –Malaba line will mean acquiring space where the rail line will be constructed.
This will mean more money for compensation for landowners in any acquisition that may arise.
But right now, we have the existing business connection line, Nairobi-Kisumu then to Uganda.
This would be the best option in the wake of the strain in sourcing sufficient funding to put up the railway facility.
The government must look at the plan critically and weight upon costs in as much as other parties may be looking for a convenient outcome, which will translate into additional costs should it prove non-viable.
The proposed line would only work best for passenger services, but not for cargo.
Taking the cost of the Mombasa - Nairobi line as a yardstick, it would be wise for the involved agencies to make a proper assessment of the plan to avert a situation where Kenyans don't get value for money.
All the same, it would make more sense if the railway passes through the port which is already being transformed into a robust facility for moving people and goods across the lake.
And even as we wait to see how this will be implemented, Kenya and Uganda should be as open as possible in the way in which the project will be financed so that we do not end up in projects dogged with corruption. The contracts should be made public.
Odero is a Shipping and Marine expert, he spoke to the Star.
