Transport Principal Secretary nominee renounces claim of revoking railway agreement

By Allan Kisia

Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Railways Managing Director Nduva Muli has moved to clarify that he will review an agreement that handed over Uganda and Kenya Railways to a South African company if appointed Principal Secretary.

Muli said he will review and revisit the concession in consultation with the Ugandan counterparts. The Managing Director made it clear that he will not revoke the concession as it was reported in a section of the media.

He said as Transport PS, he will engage the Ugandan government so as to come up with a way forward over the matter.

Rift Valley Railways Consortium, led by South Africa’s Sheltam Group, won the right to run Kenya and Uganda Railways Corporation for 25 years. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Kenya-Uganda railway in 2005.

Muli, while appearing before the Transport, Public Works and Housing Committee, noted that before the consortium took over, the railway line was handling over 1.5 million tones but is now handling less than one million tones a year.

He said the country will not be able to handle the cargo at the port of Mombasa if railway transport is not upgraded. He noted that tracks of the Kenya Railway are so dilapidated and the trains moving at a very slow pace of 10 kilometers per hour.

He added that during his tenure, he was able to increase revenue from lands from Sh12 million a year and Sh600 million a year. On the encroachment of human life near the railway line, Muli said that they have so far received funding from World Bank to move the people living in Mukuru and Kibera slums to other areas.

The chairperson of the committee, Starehe MP Maina Kamanda said there is a need to save Kenya railway line from imminent collapse.