The SGR train which Uhuru launched on May 31. [Photo/ diasporamessenger.com]
The Jubilee government’s next agenda in improving social infrastructure in the country is extending the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line to Naivasha and then to Kisumu, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.
It took the Jubilee administration two and a half years which, is less than the originally given time and less than the original budget to complete the construction of the 472 kilometres of rail line from the port city of Mombasa to Nairobi, Uhuru said on Tuesday.“The government has already embarked on extending the SGR to Naivasha then to Kisumu and eventually plans to have the system extended to Kampala and Kigali in Uganda and Rwanda respectively,” he said when he launched the first SGR cargo train in Mombasa. He was accompanied by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.“I call upon all Kenyans whatever their political beliefs to celebrate. Today we should be together holding hands in celebrations. This is the Kenya we seek and this is the Kenya we want our children to inherit from us and their children to inherit from them.”Uhuru said the SGR will make the port of Mombasa more efficient and will enhance the performance of the facility where the Jubilee government has invested more than Sh60 billion in the last four years.The opposition has been pocking holes on the SGR project which, it says was initiated to swindle taxpayers’ money.Opposition leaders Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho claim the cost of constructing the first phase of the SGR project was inflated by over Sh100 billion. Government refutes the claims.The ceremony was also addressed by Deputy President William Ruto, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa, President of the China Communications Construction Company Chen Fen Jian and the Chairman of the Kenya Railways Gen (Rtd) Jeremiah Kianga.Uhuru, Ruto, senior government officials from Kenya and China and pupils from selected primary schools across the 47 counties are expected to take a ride inside the first SGR ‘bullet train’ from Mombasa to Nairobi.