Chinese firm says railway line procurement process not flawed

By Abigael Sum

Nairobi, Kenya: The Chinese company that was awarded the contract for the construction of the standard gauge railway line has dismissed claims that the procurement process was flawed.

A statement by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) said the procurement procedure followed the Kenya law and international conventions, adding that all the procedures were approved by the relevant sections of the Government.

“The contracts of this project which were signed between Kenya Railways and CRBC have been approved by the Kenya Railways, Ministry of Transport and the Attorney General’s office. All the approval followed the current laws and regulations,” read part of the statement.

CRBC sought to clarify that the railway project, which is a Government-to-Government contract, is financed by China through EXIM Bank.

“It is legal to adopt the single sourced contractor which is recommended by the China Government,” the firm said.

CRBC maintains that the cost for the Kenya railway is reasonable.

The Chinese Embassy spokesman Mao Yizong urged media houses to be objective and balanced while reporting on the railway contract.

 “The company will ensure technology and skills transfer for the good of the Kenyan people by transforming the country’s transport system which will in the long run attract investment. It is my hope that Kenya will borrow skills from the Chinese and use the same to develop their own skills just as China borrows from time to time from her other development partners,” he said.

Design standard

The Chinese state-owned corporation justified the cost of the project, noting that the design standard of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway was higher than the Ethiopian one. 

The firm insists that the cost of the construction is about $3.804 billion which is equivalent to Sh320.7 billion and consists of civil works, facilities, locomotives, rolling stock, communication system, electronic system, central control system, stations and facilities.

According to the contract between the two countries, it will cost $3.98 million to build one kilometre of the 609.3 kilometre line while one kilometre of the line cost $4.63 million in Ethiopia.

The figure, Sh1.3 trillion, for the contract published in some newspapers comes from the trilateral MoU of the Standard Gauge Railway signed by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and is the estimated cost of Mombasa-Nairobi-Kampala-Kigali railway.