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The President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta visited the construction site of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) on Saturday. While speaking highly about the project’s progress, he disclosed that Kenya’s government planned to build industrial parks along the line to create job opportunities.
The President said, “I am impressed by the work that has been done so far, and glad that whatever was put on paper during the inception is now coming to life.”
Significant progress has been made since the start of the SGR project in November 2014. About 97 percent of civil work, 95 percent of the bridge substructures and 98 percent of the culverts have been completed. Currently, 58.32 percent of track has been laid, 45.3 percent of T-beams have been erected. The entire Project is within the 65 percent completion mark.
The 472.2 kilometer Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway will cost up to $3.8 billion, and the Import-Export Bank of China is offering 90 percent of the funding. The ambitious project is expected to boost economic growth in Kenya by 1.5 percent.The project is scheduled to be finished in 2017.
Many residents along the SGR project have been expecting the new railway to bring big changes to their life.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, the middle, Chinese ambassador Liu Xianfa, the left, and CRBC President Lu Shan, pose for photos on the newly laidtrackin front of the track-laying machine.
Source: africanleadership.co.uk
