Former TNA secretary general Onyango Oloo.Photo/the-star.co.keFollowing the launch of the standard gauge railway, Kenyans have now been advised to probe seriously into the actual cost of the project that spent Sh327 billion on the first phase.
Former TNA secretary general Onyango Oloo has said that all the details about the SGR must be brought to the table saying that the project is affecting other factors of the economy.
"We can say we have the SGR, but at what cost? We seem to always concentrate on land issue to justify the high cost of the railway. All the other details, other than land must be brought to the table for Kenyans to dissect and find out whether they have found the value for their money in the megaproject," said Oloo on Wednesday while speaking on NTV's Sidebar show.
Oloo compared the Kenyan SGR and the Ethiopian one which has spent far less amount of money while covering a longer distance than Kenya concluding that the Kenyan SGR was cleary huper-inflated.
However, Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju differed with Oloo saying that comparing the two railway lines is basically like comparing apples and oranges.
"Ethiopia has 33 locomotives while in Kenya we have 50. Kenya has 33 stations while in Ethiopia they have18.Even with that, basic arithmetics will tell you that our railway had to cost more than Ethiopia's. If you can't see that, I am sorry I can't help you," said Tuju.
On the land issue, which is reported to have raised the cost of the railway significantly, Tuju said that Kenya acquired land through a costly compensation process while in Ethiopia they just "take the land without any compensation."
Nevertheless, all agreed that the SGR is a great product that will go a long way to benefit Kenyans.