Transport PS Irungu Nyakera has urged county governments to engage other sectors in creating value on the Standard Gauge Railway within their respective counties.
Addressing the press at China Road and Bridge Cooperation Section eight site offices in Syokimau on Tuesday, Nyakera said the question on whether the rail is a thing of the past.
“Several Kenyans from the beginning did not believe that Kenya can deliver the SGR project due to negative publicity and attitude. The project is successful and almost complete with 50 Kilometres of the rail already laid on track and 60 percent of civil works done,” said Nyakera.
Nyakera said there was good progress on the project arguing the construction was going on faster and expected to be completed by mid next year as per the work plan, urging the county governments where the new railway line has passed through to take advantage of opportunities created by it to improve their economic standards.
“The county governments should look on how best they can take advantage of opportunities which have been brought by the project in their respective counties to make the rail more valuable to the residents by turning various railway stations into economic zones,” said Nyakera.
He said the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure was inventing more opportunities in transport sector through full integration of roads and railways networks, adding that the ongoing project had already opened up the Southern Corridor all the way from the Indian Ocean.
He, however, said the acquisition of land had been a major challenge in executing the project even though 99 percent of it had been sorted out by the National Land Commission.
Nyakera said he was in a two-day project familiarization tour that will see him visit the SGR project sites all the way from Nairobi to the port of Mombasa.
He urged leaders to look into best policies that Kenyan should work on for the betterment of the citizens’ living standards instead of criticizing the project.