Standard Gauge Railway route from Nairobi to Naivasha to be gazetted this month

Section of the Standard Gauge Railway between Mombasa and Nairobi. Construction of the second phase of the railway from Nairobi to Naivasha is yet to start. Photo: Reuters

The government will by the end of September gazette the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) route from Nairobi to Olkaria, Naivasha.

The delay was been occasioned by the extended campaign period following the Supreme Court ruling that called for repeat presidential election on October 17.

Once gazzetted, all affected land owners will be compensated before the official work for the multi-billion project kicks off.

This emerged when officers from the National Land Commission and the provincial administration held consultative meetings with some of the affected families.

According to Naivasha sub-county commissioner Isaac Masinde, the official route had already been identified and was waiting the gazettement.

Speaking in his office, Masinde noted that the campaigns had delayed the exercise but he was confident that this would be addressed soon.

“We had a meeting with NLC chairman Mohammad Swazuri who assured us that the route will be gazzeted by the end of this month,” he said.

He added that once compensation started, over 1,000 people would be employed by the Chinese company which has been contracted to construct the railway line.

“Some youths were protesting outside the SGR offices that they should be employed and they should understand that there are limited positions at the moment," he said.

This came as over 200 youths from Naivasha and Mai Mahiu camped outside the SGR offices in Mai Mahiu town demanding employment.

During the incident, the youths threatened to block the busy Mai Mahiu-Narok road forcing anti-riot police officers to intervene.

According to one of the youths Joseph Mburu, people from other counties were benefitting at the expense of locals.

“We had been promised by the government that we would be the first to benefit from this SGR project but we have been sidelined,” he said.

Mburu added that they had raised the issue with various government offices but this had not been addressed leading to the impasse.

“Local youths should be the first to benefit from this project but unfortunately the contractor is sourcing workers from other counties,” he said.