Slum dwellers holding Kenya Railways to ransom

[John Ashworth]

Slum dwellers holding Kenya Railways to ransom

Daily Nation
By WACHIRA KANG’ARU
Posted Monday, August 6 2012 at 19:00

IN SUMMARY

- Kenya Railways now forced to spend about Sh3 billion out of the total Sh24 billion that was meant to upgrade the line, to resettle the families living in Kibera and Mukuru slums before plan can be completed

In what is turning out to be an expensive obstacle to infrastructure development, Kenya Railways is set to spend over Sh3 billion to move residents of Kibera and Mukuru slums from the railway line.

According to the management, the process involving about 10,000 families illegally occupying the railway reserve has slowed down the project of launching the Nairobi commuter train.

Their physical presence and structures near the rail lines is a problem because it means that every time a train passes near the slums, it has to reduce speed to below 10km/hr to avoid causing human catastrophe should there be a mishap.

“We have talked to the best railway operators in the world and they are all interested in operating in Kenya, but they require us to demonstrate success,” Kenya Railways managing director Nduva Muli told Smart Company.

To show commitment, Kenya Railways has to ensure that the rail network can consistently support a train moving at over 80km/hr from the current less than 50km/hr. It is only at that speed that those seeking to invest in operating commuter trains can justify making such an investment.

The corporation has also had to erect a barrier tracing the railway network in Nairobi and to terminals to reduce the effect of human and animal movement along the lines.

However, the biggest challenge has been clearing the railway by moving residents who have illegally settled on the rail reserves.

An initial plan to move Kibera and Mukuru slum dwellers by demolishing their shanties was met with stiff opposition. The acrimony that ensued almost derailed the project, with financiers threatening to pull out if the relocation was not done in a structured and humane way.

Kibera poses the biggest challenge due to the interdependence of the structures near the railway line and the rest of the settlement as the businesses near the railway are the lifeline of the slum.

“We also realised that it would be a human catastrophe if we were to move in and just demolish the structures,” said Mr Muli.

The corporation needs to spend about 15 per cent of its Sh24 billion budget to upgrade the railway lines to support commuter trains and resettle residents.
“That’s the tragedy — instead of putting the money in infrastructure, you have to move people who are illegally occupying your land,” Mr Muli lamented.

However, he acknowledged that in the long run, it was the best option if the railway is to be secured from vandalism.

“We hope to use the same residents to offer security for the lanes as we incorporate this to the new set-up,” he said.

Had all gone according to the initial plan, Kenya could have already had its first experience in commuter train services.

Rehabilitation of about 160 kilometres of the rail system within Nairobi, construction of 7 kilometres of a new track to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s Unit 3, and rehabilitation or construction of stations along the rail network was planned for completion by late 2011 or early this year.

Its completion would have ushered the country into a new regime of high speed passenger train capable of moving at over 90 kilometres per hour.

This would have driven the railway passenger capacity up 12-fold to 60 million passengers a year from the current five million and the daily numbers 10-fold to 200,000 passengers.

The cost of completion of the switch was estimated at Sh24 billion. However, many factors have conspired to derail the transition and Kenya Railways is still searching for the fire power to propel it to the next phase.

At the Kibera slums, Kenya Railways plans to construct a two-storey building to house the more than 4,000 families affected and create a 20-metre buffer zone on each side.

The company will also accommodate more than 2,700 business units and 252 institutions, which include churches, schools, and hospitals. Each unit will be self-contained, with the ground floor set up as business units and markets.

The wall of the houses will rise to about 15 metres and will be used as a barrier, with the front facing away from the railway line.

At Mukuru slums, the firm will move more than 5,200 families, 4,000 business units, and 18 institutions to a new location near Likoni Road. For Kibera, Kenya Railways will also construct a 2.5 metre wide foot path and underpasses connecting the slum to the Industrial Area and the city centre, where most of the residents work.

Although they are illegal occupants, resettlement is the only way to gain a compromise from the slum residents and is vital for the success of the project.

The need to speed up the development is amplified by the story of the RVR cargo transport on the Nairobi-Kisumu-Malaba route. At the current speed, RVR has to make two trips from the Nairobi station, moving 10 wagons past Kibera and joining the two to make a single train to Kisumu and Kampala.

“That doubles operating cost,” Mr Muli said.

A lot has happened, although not as fast as the initial plan by the management.

Former Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta had allocated Sh1.9 billion in last year’s budget to finance the railway upgrading.

Mooted in 1992 following a strike by matatus, the project started to take shape in 2009, when Kenya Railways signed a joint development agreement with InfraCo, a donor-funded infrastructure development company.

InfraCo gave a grant of Sh320 million to meet much of the upfront costs and act as a cushion to the risks of early stage development. This was also expected to later ease the entry costs for private investors seeking to partner with Kenya Railways to develop the commuter train network.

The Treasury added Sh600 million in the 2009/10 budget to fund the first phase of the project for feasibility studies.

The project was allocated Sh1.9 billion in the 2010/11 budget. Construction of a modern train station at Syokimau on Mombasa road by El Noor Construction at a cost Sh250 million, which is the first phase of the ambitious railway service, has started. When completed, the project is expected to link the city centre with the outlying towns of Thika, Limuru, and Athi River/Lukenya.

The broader plan is to improve the railway line to standard gauge able to support train speed of up to 160km/hr, thereby reducing the time taken between Nairobi and Mombasa three-fold, from the current average 10 hours to three hours. This would make rail the second fastest way to travel to Mombasa after air.

A bus ride to Mombasa takes at least eight hours. The construction of the standard gauge lane was to begin over a year ago in May 2011, with a completion date of 2013, and the Mombasa-Nairobi section and Nairobi-Kisumu and Nairobi-Malaba stretches by 2016.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Hmmm.

Very interesting, especially the approaches being adopted to deal with various issues cropping up.

For a change they sound practical as well.

Regards the Mombasa line - fast train experience says if a trip is less then 4 hours it thumps flights massively - which given flight times plus the time wasted at airports each end, makes a lot of sense.