{"id":9065,"date":"2026-01-07T10:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/9065\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:34:10","slug":"naivasha-kisumu-malaba-sgr-project-set-for-groundbreaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/9065\/","title":{"rendered":"Naivasha\u2013Kisumu\u2013Malaba SGR project set for groundbreaking"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Kenya Railway MD Philip Mainga, NLC CEO Kabale Tache and other officials during a reconnaissance tour of the Naivasha\u2013Kisumu\u2013Malaba\u00a0SGR project<\/p>\n

TOP officials from Kenya
\nRailways and the National Land Commission ion Monday embarked on a critical
\nreconnaissance visit for the Naivasha\u2013Kisumu\u2013Malaba Standard Gauge Railway project, signalling that the long-anticipated project could soon move
\nfrom planning to action.<\/p>\n

Among those present were NLC CEO
\nKabale Tache, Kenya Railways managing director Philip Mainga, NLC director of finance and corporate planning Bernard Cherutich, and NLC director of valuation
\nand taxation Joel Ombati.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Star on
\nTuesday, Tache described the visit as a significant milestone in preparing for
\nland acquisition and project implementation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking at the public land
\nwhere the President can do groundbreaking for the work to begin,\u201d she said,
\nhighlighting the focus on publicly-owned parcels for the initial launch.<\/p>\n

The officials held a consultative
\nmeeting at Kodiaga prison, reviewing land parcels proposed by Kenya Railways
\nfor the SGR groundbreaking exercise.<\/p>\n

Tache stressed the importance of
\nprioritising public land, identifying potential challenges early, and ensuring
\nmeaningful engagement with local leadership and communities.<\/p>\n

Following detailed assessments, the
\nteam conducted ground verification visits to Kibos and Kodiaga prison,
\neventually agreeing that Kodiaga prison offered the most viable location for
\nthe groundbreaking.<\/p>\n

Tache said the project is
\nexpected to be ready by June next year.<\/p>\n

The SGR project will involve
\ncompensation for landowners and traverse numerous properties along its route.
\nTache reaffirmed NLC\u2019s commitment to ensuring that the project is implemented
\nin a transparent, inclusive, and sustainable manner, benefiting all Kenyans.<\/p>\n

Established under Article 67(1) of
\nthe constitution of Kenya 2010, the NLC is a constitutional commission
\noperationalised by the National Land Commission Act, 2012, the Land Act, 2012,
\nand the Land Registration Act, 2012.<\/p>\n

Section 107 of the Land Act entrusts
\nNLC with the mandate to carry out compulsory acquisitions on behalf of both the
\nnational and county governments.<\/p>\n

The process is triggered when a Cabinet
\nsecretary or county executive committee member submits a formal request to the
\ncommission.<\/p>\n

Last year, Roads and Transport
\nCabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir outlined plans to utilise the Kenya Railway
\nDevelopment Levy (RDL)\u2014charged on imported goods\u2014to boost funding for the SGR
\nextension.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the government is
\nadvancing consultations with development partners to explore additional funding
\noptions for the 475-kilometre line, encompassing Phase 2B (Naivasha-Kisumu) and
\nPhase 2C (Kisumu-Malaba), with an estimated cost of $5 billion (Sh645.8
\nbillion).<\/p>\n

The project, which will pass through
\nNarok, Bomet, Nyamira, Kisumu, and Busia counties, includes compensation for
\naffected individuals.<\/p>\n

Feasibility studies, environmental
\nassessments, and social impact analyses have already been completed, with the
\nKenyan government committing to develop the project concurrently with Uganda,
\nwhile South Sudan is also being integrated into the East Africa Rail Corridor.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a ministerial meeting in
\nNairobi, attended by his Ugandan and South Sudanese counterparts, Chirchir
\nhighlighted Kenya\u2019s urgency to kick-start the project, noting that Uganda is
\nalready making headway. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a clear programme, and
\nwe are consulting development partners on some of the financial closures that
\nwe need to finish to fund this infrastructure. The project is not cheap,\u201d he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n

The Kenya Railway Development Levy
\ncurrently raises approximately Sh50 billion annually, based on the revised two
\nper cent levy on imported goods. <\/p>\n

For the 2023-24 financial year, the
\ngovernment collected about Sh31.7 billion under the previous 1.5 per cent rate. \n<\/p>\n

The rate was increased to two per
\ncent effective December 27, 2024, significantly boosting expected annual
\ncollection. <\/p>\n

Chirchir ruled out any plans for
\nfurther increases, noting that the government is exploring alternative
\nfinancing models and partnerships.<\/p>\n

Among these plans are proposals to
\nconcession SGR freight operations and support neighbouring countries in
\nestablishing logistics hubs in Kenya, positioning the country as a central hub
\nfor regional trade and transport.<\/p>\n

As the reconnaissance visit
\nconcludes and the groundwork is laid, the Naivasha\u2013Kisumu\u2013Malaba SGR Project
\nmoves a step closer to reality, promising to reshape connectivity and economic
\nactivity across Kenya and the wider East African region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kenya Railway MD Philip Mainga, NLC CEO Kabale Tache and other officials during a reconnaissance tour of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[80,351,352,98,100,353,101,350,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-9065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-kenya","9":"tag-kenya-news","10":"tag-star","11":"tag-star-news","12":"tag-star-news-kenya","13":"tag-star-newspaper-kenya","14":"tag-the-star","15":"tag-the-star-kenya","16":"tag-the-star-newspaper"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}