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Post by omundustrong on Jan 17, 2014 7:54:56 GMT 3
By JOHN NGIRACHU More by this Author An independent private firm should have done a study to determine the cost of constructing the standard gauge railway line before the job was given to a Chinese firm, Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has said.
The lawmaker told the Public Investments Committee he is opposed to the contract because China Road and Bridge Corporation did the feasibility study, designed the railway, determined its cost and was then handed the contract to build it.
This way, the MP told the first committee meeting on the matter, Kenyans will pay more than they should for “the largest infrastructure project in the country since independence”.
“I’m raising these concerns not because I don’t love the railway. I love the railway. It should have been built like yesterday. But we should save Kenyans’ money,” he told the committee chaired by Eldas MP Adan Keynan.
Mr Keter is the first person to appear before the committee, which officially begins its investigations on Monday.
He insisted that contrary to the Transport ministry’s assertions, this was no government-to-government deal since the Chinese firm had already signed a MoU before it went in search of funding from the China Exim Bank.
In the end, he said, President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto were misled before launching the project in Mombasa on November 28.
DOUBLE COST
“Someone must have misused their office. I see a lot of misadvise and misleading,” Mr Keter said.
The Parliamentary Budget Office has also questioned aspects of the contract that saw the cost go up from an initial Sh220 billion to Sh327 billion for the Mombasa-Nairobi phase.
In an analysis given to the House team, it said the cost of the contract increased after a team from Kenya Railways and China Road and Bridge Corporation revised it to allow the Chinese to supply locomotives, coaches and freight wagons.
“This led to an extra cost of Sh95 billion. It is not clear why the government would commit itself to buy rolling stock when the agreement for operations on the line is ‘open access’, where many operators will be allowed to operate in the freight business,” the Budget Office says.
After comparing the costs of building a similar railway in Ethiopia, the Budget Office concludes that the Kenya one will almost be double.
“The length of the line in Ethiopia is 656km while in Kenya it’s 485.303km at a cost of approximately $3 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively. The approximate cost per kilometre is approximately $4.57 million in Ethiopia and $8.04 million in Kenya,” it concludes.
The PBO document will form part of the inquiry but Mr Keter used the opportunity yesterday to state why he has been very vocal in his opposition to the project and gave a brief history of the relationship between CRBC and the government.
CRBC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government in 2009 and carried out a feasibility study of the railway project for free.
He insisted that contrary to the Transport ministry’s assertions, this was no government-to-government deal since CRBC had already signed the MoU before they went in search of funding from the China Exim Bank.
In the end, he said, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto were misled before heading to Mombasa for the launch of the project on November 28, 2013.
MISLEADING ADVICE
“Someone must have misused their office. I see a lot of misadvise and misleading,” said Mr Keter.
He will make a formal presentation to PIC next week under oath and is also expected to produce documents to support his case.
The meeting at Continental House yesterday also offered MPs on PIC an opportunity to comment on the jostling between their team and the Transport Committee over who ought to investigate the matter.
Asked by committee vice chairman Kimani Ichung’wa whether he would also appear before the Transport Committee, Mr Keter said that wouldn’t happen.
“I’m not willing to sit before that committee. The chairman has already said that I’m working on behalf of another contractor. He is biased,” said Mr Keter.
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Post by jakaswanga on Jan 17, 2014 20:17:32 GMT 3
By JOHN NGIRACHU More by this Author An independent private firm should have done a study to determine the cost of constructing the standard gauge railway line before the job was given to a Chinese firm, Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has said.
The lawmaker told the Public Investments Committee he is opposed to the contract because China Road and Bridge Corporation did the feasibility study, designed the railway, determined its cost and was then handed the contract to build it.
This way, the MP told the first committee meeting on the matter, Kenyans will pay more than they should for “the largest infrastructure project in the country since independence”.
“I’m raising these concerns not because I don’t love the railway. I love the railway. It should have been built like yesterday. But we should save Kenyans’ money,” he told the committee chaired by Eldas MP Adan Keynan.
Mr Keter is the first person to appear before the committee, which officially begins its investigations on Monday.
He insisted that contrary to the Transport ministry’s assertions, this was no government-to-government deal since the Chinese firm had already signed a MoU before it went in search of funding from the China Exim Bank.
In the end, he said, President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto were misled before launching the project in Mombasa on November 28.
DOUBLE COST
“Someone must have misused their office. I see a lot of misadvise and misleading,” Mr Keter said.
The Parliamentary Budget Office has also questioned aspects of the contract that saw the cost go up from an initial Sh220 billion to Sh327 billion for the Mombasa-Nairobi phase.
In an analysis given to the House team, it said the cost of the contract increased after a team from Kenya Railways and China Road and Bridge Corporation revised it to allow the Chinese to supply locomotives, coaches and freight wagons.
“This led to an extra cost of Sh95 billion. It is not clear why the government would commit itself to buy rolling stock when the agreement for operations on the line is ‘open access’, where many operators will be allowed to operate in the freight business,” the Budget Office says.
After comparing the costs of building a similar railway in Ethiopia, the Budget Office concludes that the Kenya one will almost be double.
“The length of the line in Ethiopia is 656km while in Kenya it’s 485.303km at a cost of approximately $3 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively. The approximate cost per kilometre is approximately $4.57 million in Ethiopia and $8.04 million in Kenya,” it concludes.
The PBO document will form part of the inquiry but Mr Keter used the opportunity yesterday to state why he has been very vocal in his opposition to the project and gave a brief history of the relationship between CRBC and the government.
CRBC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government in 2009 and carried out a feasibility study of the railway project for free.
He insisted that contrary to the Transport ministry’s assertions, this was no government-to-government deal since CRBC had already signed the MoU before they went in search of funding from the China Exim Bank.
In the end, he said, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto were misled before heading to Mombasa for the launch of the project on November 28, 2013.
MISLEADING ADVICE
“Someone must have misused their office. I see a lot of misadvise and misleading,” said Mr Keter.
He will make a formal presentation to PIC next week under oath and is also expected to produce documents to support his case.
The meeting at Continental House yesterday also offered MPs on PIC an opportunity to comment on the jostling between their team and the Transport Committee over who ought to investigate the matter.
Asked by committee vice chairman Kimani Ichung’wa whether he would also appear before the Transport Committee, Mr Keter said that wouldn’t happen.
“I’m not willing to sit before that committee. The chairman has already said that I’m working on behalf of another contractor. He is biased,” said Mr Keter. Hmm, even those inclined to cut William Ruto (WSR) some slack, must now be a bit wary as far as his game is concerned in this SG-Railway tendering business. Actually in the beginning, it was the DPORK’s office which had enough reservations to write an official letter to the Attorney General, seeking further clarifications as to whether the deal was clean, subject to Kenyan laws and procurement acts. The DPORK’s office, as far as I know, is not on official record, saying they have subsequently seen all the documents and, privy to legal expertise, their original doubts have now disappeared. And thus Ruto’s effervescent about-turn. As things stand, WSR has gone on the offensive and denounced Alfred Keter (AK) as a ‘’mtumua’’, a stooge of businessmen who lost out on SGR related business {Lang'at in Mombasa?}. Ruto has evidently chosen to destroy the credibility of the messenger, in the hope that will neutralise the thrust of his message too. He is deflecting attention from what Keter is saying, to the possible motives of Keter. WSR is not using facts to fight allegations, he is using innuendo to discredit AK.For a politician as smart as WSR, that needs a careful, rational explanation. [Remember recently he came clean on other blunders, saying the president had been misadvised, and those who did would face some hard questions! Woof Woof! ] Why does he not just table the facts now, and shrug. Let the facts show Keter is barking irrelevantly. The moment DPORK rakes and throws mud, he himself begins to stink. Raising more questions. We now have the correct assertion by Keter, that with Kamanda having called him a hired hand, there is no point appearing before such a prejudiced chair! There is need to table evidence that AK is a mouthpiece of some paymasters in the background or fellas like WSR must hold their peace. It is also emerging that the China Roads and Bridges Company was awarded the tender in 2009. Now, where were we in 2009? That looks like Kenneth Marende was Speaker of the 10th parliament, and the big three con men Kibaki Raila Kalonzo, were the three chairs of the land. William Ruto was still minister of something, Uhuru Kenyatta too, and Musalia Mudavadi, and Moses Wetangula all were somethings up there. Actually, anybody who is just about anybody in the political constellation, was somebody in the GCG cabinet. Anyang’ Nyong’o, James Orengo, Oh God, it is better to count who was not there when the CRBC received her reward! Then there was ambassador Francis Muthaura ---I forget what he was in 2009, just like current PM Joseph Kinyua; and current transport supremos Nduvi Mulli and engineer Michael Kariuki. And of course there was Miguna Miguna I believe, not yet fired from the opulent Shell House. Alfred Keter is saying the CRBC did the feasibility study for free, got the contract, then went to look for funding from EXIM bank. That it was not really your government to government sourcing which the Uhuruto elite has been selling as their defence line, with the official opposition in tacit agreement. Now, all these people who served in the Grand coalition government when the deal was sealed, they lost their memories? And even those who have written their memoirs, nothing about the largest infra-structural project in the country in half a century? Hmmmm Come on guys, I am still smiling! These attackers on Keter, who are they, who are the stooges? The CRBC paid off the whole top brass of the GCG? And here are GCG Pots calling the Keter kettle black!? Yawa!
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Post by jakaswanga on Jan 21, 2014 23:15:47 GMT 3
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others! Think, Uhuru Kenyatta, your name is ''Uhuru''? and it means? accept the conditions of foreign powers! ---his excellency The Puppet!? Kenya government had to work UNDER CONDITIONS set by the China government. Nationalists must be furious now, but as I long ago accepted, Kenya is a vassal state now, an onverseas province, and Liu Guangyuan, the the pretending PRC ambassador who, in effect, is the Viceroy or The Man in Nairobi, is the fellow to fire the hard questions to. Uhuru Kenyatta is a local nyapara for the PR effect on the natives. The parasitic bourgeoisie are indeed, as Amilcar Cabral put it, historically incompetent, and professionally incoherent. Take a look: They signed an MOU where the same company does the feasibility study, the design, sources the funding, supplies the wagons and locomotives! It is a total monopoly, but why is it that humans invented the concept of CHECKS AND BALANCES!?In the Chinese we trust fully! With men like William Ruto having lost their minds and now convinced to criticise this tendering process is to be a stooge of someone else, there could just be need to revise this project in such a way that it is postponed. AG Muigai has just again thrown in a spanner in the works, catching a man called Juma on his forehead. You do not fwak with ksh. 1.3 trillion just like that. Uhuru Kenyatta, the local nyapara answerable to Liu Guangyuan, may have to address this issue faster that he thinks.
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Post by jakaswanga on Jan 23, 2014 20:44:36 GMT 3
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Post by omundustrong on Jan 23, 2014 21:33:58 GMT 3
Thanks Bro Jakaswanga for keeping your spotlight firmly fixed on this saga for indeed it has become one!One day when the mandarins are hauled to jail we shall only say we told you so!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2014 8:13:28 GMT 3
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2014 10:00:44 GMT 3
Aden Duale: Graft cartels blackmailing State Kieni MP Kanini Kega, Kikuyu counterpart Kimani Ichungwa and Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki at Endarasha, Kieni, yesterday. [PHOTO: sammy mose/STANDARD] By FRANCIS NGIGE and ALPHONCE SHIUNDU Top leaders in the Jubilee government now claim that people allegedly running corruption cartels and blackmailing the government are behind the campaign to stop the multi-billion shilling standard gauge railway project. The leaders have demanded that President Uhuru Kenyatta exposes the cartels within a week, failure to which they will name and shame the crooks. They further claimed that the same “mafia style operators” were involved in the multi-billion shilling Anglo-Leasing scandal, whose debt the national Treasury is still saddled with since it was exposed in 2002. Although the leaders fell short of naming the people publicly, they insisted that the individuals are well known by Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto “since they are hiding under government skirts”. Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki and his National Assembly counterpart Adan Duale led a group of Jubilee leaders in demanding that Uhuru makes public names of the people holding the government at ransom. Defending the government over the railway project from Mombasa to Malaba, the leaders said it was only through such exposure that Kenyans would know the truth. The leaders spoke as Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury Henry Rotich labelled the railway project as a good deal for the country. Mr Rotich cautioned MPs against pushing the government to cancel the project that will cost the taxpayer at least Sh440 billion in the first phase between Mombasa and Nairobi. But yesterday Prof Kindiki and Mr Duale were breathing fire insisting that for corruption to end, the government ought to come clean on a few individuals blackmailing it. “We are giving the President and his deputy seven days to name these people who have perfected the art of corruption through successive governments. Mr President, you know them, please deal with them through the proper government instruments,” Duale said. The leaders said the “known wheeler-dealers” were behind the hue and cry over the standard gauge railway project “after they failed to get a piece of the pie in the deal”. Read more @ www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000103190&story_title=aden-duale-graft-cartels-blackmailing-state&pageNo=1
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Post by omundustrong on Jan 27, 2014 8:12:45 GMT 3
Kathure,my senior,thanks for keeping the spotlight on this developing saga,hearing the politician's speeches over the weekend,alot of heat is generated but no light.Facts are stubborn,they will eventually come out.
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Post by merkeju on Jan 28, 2014 4:17:09 GMT 3
Kathure,my senior,thanks for keeping the spotlight on this developing saga,hearing the politician's speeches over the weekend,alot of heat is generated but no light.Facts are stubborn,they will eventually come out. "To accommodate the atrocious kickback, the tender was thus inflated by 46 per cent. The quartet shared out a staggering Sh32 billion (with the three state officers each receiving 30 per cent of the cut). A notorious Mombasa wheeler-dealer of Asian descent who brokered the deal took home a cool Sh3.2 billion, according to impeccable sources. By all standards, this is the most expensive bribe in Kenya’s history – far much bigger than the Sh13-billion Goldenberg infamy of the 1990s"."The taxpayer stands to lose a whopping Sh110 billion in inflated pricing, according to railway construction costing made available to this publication by Industry experts. The benchmark in this case is the Addis-Djibouti railway whose construction is to complete in 2015. “The unit cost of Mombasa-Nairobi railway is 49.3 percent higher than the unit cost of the 743km Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway,” said a report by one of the Industry experts working at the Ministry of Transport headquarters, Transcom House"."For legal reasons, this publication will not divulge identity details of the four swindlers of the public purse. However, we cannot hesitate to report that an immediate former Cabinet minister, a senior official in Ministry of Transport, and a top politician are the architects of the ignominious plan. They connived with an infamous Asian fixer who operates within Kenya Ports Authority and has vast business interests at the Coast".www.nairobilawmonthly.com/modules/frontpage/php/fullview_content.php?mode=0&multi=0&type=0&pos=0&limit=0&id=891
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Post by mank on Jan 28, 2014 6:36:35 GMT 3
From the title of this story (in the WSJ), it might look like the story is about Ethiopia. Scrolling down and see Kenya's flags, among others, indicating countries where this dirty tendering has recently been suspected.
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Post by kamalet on Jan 28, 2014 8:01:28 GMT 3
Kathure,my senior,thanks for keeping the spotlight on this developing saga,hearing the politician's speeches over the weekend,alot of heat is generated but no light.Facts are stubborn,they will eventually come out. "To accommodate the atrocious kickback, the tender was thus inflated by 46 per cent. The quartet shared out a staggering Sh32 billion (with the three state officers each receiving 30 per cent of the cut). A notorious Mombasa wheeler-dealer of Asian descent who brokered the deal took home a cool Sh3.2 billion, according to impeccable sources. By all standards, this is the most expensive bribe in Kenya’s history – far much bigger than the Sh13-billion Goldenberg infamy of the 1990s"."The taxpayer stands to lose a whopping Sh110 billion in inflated pricing, according to railway construction costing made available to this publication by Industry experts. The benchmark in this case is the Addis-Djibouti railway whose construction is to complete in 2015. “The unit cost of Mombasa-Nairobi railway is 49.3 percent higher than the unit cost of the 743km Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway,” said a report by one of the Industry experts working at the Ministry of Transport headquarters, Transcom House"."For legal reasons, this publication will not divulge identity details of the four swindlers of the public purse. However, we cannot hesitate to report that an immediate former Cabinet minister, a senior official in Ministry of Transport, and a top politician are the architects of the ignominious plan. They connived with an infamous Asian fixer who operates within Kenya Ports Authority and has vast business interests at the Coast".www.nairobilawmonthly.com/modules/frontpage/php/fullview_content.php?mode=0&multi=0&type=0&pos=0&limit=0&id=891Merkeju WIth the Ethiopian cost per kilometre analogy, the folly of the argument is assuming you are comparing oranges with oranges! It is not any different to bringing an argument that the cost per kilometre in constructing the road from Nairobi to Naivasha is the same as that of constructing the road from Kitengela to Namanga. The cost will be the same if all things are equal....but are they?
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Post by omundu on Jan 28, 2014 20:55:22 GMT 3
"To accommodate the atrocious kickback, the tender was thus inflated by 46 per cent. The quartet shared out a staggering Sh32 billion (with the three state officers each receiving 30 per cent of the cut). A notorious Mombasa wheeler-dealer of Asian descent who brokered the deal took home a cool Sh3.2 billion, according to impeccable sources. By all standards, this is the most expensive bribe in Kenya’s history – far much bigger than the Sh13-billion Goldenberg infamy of the 1990s"."The taxpayer stands to lose a whopping Sh110 billion in inflated pricing, according to railway construction costing made available to this publication by Industry experts. The benchmark in this case is the Addis-Djibouti railway whose construction is to complete in 2015. “The unit cost of Mombasa-Nairobi railway is 49.3 percent higher than the unit cost of the 743km Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway,” said a report by one of the Industry experts working at the Ministry of Transport headquarters, Transcom House"."For legal reasons, this publication will not divulge identity details of the four swindlers of the public purse. However, we cannot hesitate to report that an immediate former Cabinet minister, a senior official in Ministry of Transport, and a top politician are the architects of the ignominious plan. They connived with an infamous Asian fixer who operates within Kenya Ports Authority and has vast business interests at the Coast".www.nairobilawmonthly.com/modules/frontpage/php/fullview_content.php?mode=0&multi=0&type=0&pos=0&limit=0&id=891 Merkeju WIth the Ethiopian cost per kilometre analogy, the folly of the argument is assuming you are comparing oranges with oranges! It is not any different to bringing an argument that the cost per kilometre in constructing the road from Nairobi to Naivasha is the same as that of constructing the road from Kitengela to Namanga. The cost will be the same if all things are equal....but are they? it is actually like comparing Oranges to Oranges Kamale. The only difference is in how the Orange is wrapped. The taste eventually remains the same. Let's use a housing analogy to better understand this: In residential construction, a quantity surveyor can give an initial estimate at the begining of a project (once the draft design is finished) by quoting a standard price per square metre. The quotes are grouped into low end, medium end and high end rates, depending on what quality finishes the client wants. The 'unseen items' are grouped as preliminaries as opposed to items because the designs havnt reached an advanced stage to be measured for costing. once the drawings are complete, the qs measures the remaining items for a more comprehensive BOQ. Note that the final BOQ is very rarely off by more than ten percent of the preliminary BOQ. The same analogy is normally applied in civil engineering (like our railway) where they do prelims and group the costing under roughly the three groups I mentioned above. Now, here is where the story starts; our current railway can be grouped as a low end. What is being proposed, together with the Ethiopian one are grouped together as medium end (I am using laymans terms here). The speed trains in Europe and Asia could be grouped as top notch. So the prices between, say, the Ethiopian and the Kenyan one should be within an acceptable range. The differences should come from a few basic facts which I will explain below to show why the Ethiopian one should be more expensive: - Terrain. I have done a rough comparison between the Kenyan route (existing) and the proposed Ethiopian one (someone can confirm by doing a more detailed study) and our terrain is more level compared to the mountain ranges encountered with the Ethiopian line. Ours mostly passes through plains. Anyone who has used the existing train could attest to that. However, terrain (earthworks,storm water reticulation etc) normally accounts for about fifteen percent of the total project cost. So why is ours double ? The Ethiopian one should actually be more, shouldn't it. - technical ability: kenya has a better blue collar and white collar labour force plus availability of equipment compared to Ethiopia so our costs should be way lower. I don't have to explain how this affects construction costs do I ? - availability of materials: we even export out cement to the greater region. Material is far cheaper here. In addition, importation/transport costs of material in Ethiopia is more expensive than in kenya because they use djibouti while mombasa is a stones throw away for us. Compare their road network from djibouti to our Mombasa road. The above, amongst a few other factors, affect the eventual price. But never by around fifty percent. In my experience, the price ranges are never more than twenty percent. But then again, shouldn't the Ethiopian line be more expensive considering the above ? Standard practice the world over is, the Engineers and qs do the drawings and feasibility study, then invite contractors to a tender. This is a practice that has a history behind it in the construction industry the world over and there is a reason behind it. Contractors will do anything under their power to make more money from a project, and that's why the client needs the professional team as his watchmen: the team ensures that the contractor who gets chosen has submitted a tender that is within a certain parameter in price and quality that the professionals had come up with in their drawings and BOQ's. Now we have the chinese contractor being the judge and executor !!!! Of course he will overprice it so that others can eat. The Government allowed the wolf to care for the sheep. What do we expect!!!! Hahahaha. Wa mayi, in the vilage we would say "kamaya George" or "kamaiva po!!!" (I hope I am correct) Now, the original tender price agreed to by the contractor and client can only change before construction if the client brings about changes. But who authorised those changes ? If the changes are done then, the professional team should redo the drawings and resubmit the for tender. The previous contract automatically gets cancelled. That is where the grey area lies: we still don't know what changes were done and by whom and who authorised the changes, if any, to double the price, were any subsequent feasibilities done and why wasn't the tender re-advaertised. Heck, was it even advertised. Makes your head spin don't it ? And then Mr Kamau further insults our intelligence by saying that one of the reasons the costs increased was because they had to buy land for the railway and a station or two!!!! I call BuLL+***###. Any national railway organization is one of the biggest landowners in any country. We are building the proposed one parallel to the existing one. Any existing railway has a reserve of over 100 metres on both sides from the middle of the rail line, if not more. The reserves are called that for an obvious reason; FUTURE EXPANSION. We can also expand the existing stations or use the land where they sit for new stations. What land exactly are we buying that Ethiopia isn't ? And why exactly, shouldn't we build ours just as Ethiopia is doing theirs ? They also did a feasibility that deemed theirs feasible to service over eighty million people scattered over a country less connected than ours and not including neighbouring countries.
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Post by omundustrong on Jan 29, 2014 7:27:58 GMT 3
By Jaindi Kisero More by this Author President Kenyatta has challenged critics of the standard gauge railway project to speak out and produce any evidence of wrongdoing to the parliamentary committees investigating the matter.
In this spirit, I write as follows. The manner in which the procurement of this massive project was conducted was not only opaque but has left us widely exposed and dependent on the precarious benevolence of the Chinese contractors.
We do not know whether we are going to get a railway at the right price.
The following facts are irrefutable. First, it is China Roads and Bridges Corporation which conducted the feasibility and preliminary designs for us. When you allow a contractor to do for you designs and feasibility studies, he has an upper hand in deciding the price.
I would have been less worried if the Chinese were building for us a road, a library or a hospital because we have local experience in building roads and hospitals.
Local engineers are capable of seeing through the tricks introduced by foreign contractors to inflate prices and pad certificates with money for backhanders.
The problem in this case is that we have no local engineering experience in building railways and therefore possess inadequate capacity to interrogate the prices offered by the Chinese.
Secondly, I have seen a copy of the commercial contract which the Chinese signed with the Kenya Railways Corporation in July 2010.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
The document shows that the contract was signed on the basis of a non-binding bill of quantities. Ask any engineer to tell the implications of such an arrangement and the risks involved.
Clearly, we have exposed the taxpayer to far too many risks. When did the rain start beating us?
I trace it back to a March 2011 letter by former Transport Permanent Secretary Cyrus Njiru to former Kenya Railways Corporation managing director Nduva Muli.
Indeed, this project was going on very well until Dr Njiru wrote this famous letter directing Mr Muli to discontinue the feasibility study and designs he was preparing to conduct on the grounds that China Roads and Bridges Corporation had offered to do feasibility studies and preliminary designs for the Ministry of Transport for free.
By asking Mr Muli to suspend the government-funded feasibility study, we lost out in the information to safeguard the State’s interest during negotiations with the Chinese.
Independent feasibility studies and designs would have given us the estimated cost of constructing the railway and the financing modalities.
Yesterday, I went to my archives to look at the correspondence between Kenya Railways Corporation and the Transport ministry on this matter.
What comes through clearly is that our own railway engineers blew the whistle from the outset, warning not only that the feasibility studies and designs by the Chinese were way below standard but also that the route the government had taken was the wrong one.
Our engineers noted that even if the Chinese were offering to do feasibility studies for free, Kenya Railway engineers should have been allowed to spell out the terms of reference.
Our engineers also warned that the Chinese designs had included too many bridges, tunnels and crossing stations whose effect was to push the construction cost off the line. We did not listen to them. Apparently, the Chinese had powerful friends in high places.
TIED TO LOANS
As things stand, we are in the dark and remain at the mercy of the Chinese and their backers. What, really, is a government-to-government deal and how beneficial is it?
Yes, the Chinese have lent us money. But the loans have ended up tying ours hand to an opaque procurement method which is open to manipulation by their well-connected local backers.
In the build-up to the last General Election, the Canadians offered us government-to-government deal on the Biometric Voter Registers. At the end of the day, all the money we used to purchase the equipment came from a loan we borrowed from Standard Chartered Bank of London.
In future, we should go by the opinion of Attorney General Githu Muigai, namely, that G-to-G deals must not preclude international competitive bidding. G-to-G deals are a con. Period.
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Post by kamalet on Jan 29, 2014 10:02:57 GMT 3
Omundu
Sadly I still do not agree with you! There are so many differences in the two projects that unless you have sight of the BQs you would never know why one is cheaper. In fact the best comparative would be the cost of Steel as this is a common consumable rather than an abstract comparison of cost per kilometre. I am sure you being in the business knows that for every bridge or culvert that has to be built on a road, the cost per kilometre changes when compared with a kilometre with neither!
The lack of details about the contract only leads to speculation and the more people do so, the more it appears as if it is true.
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Post by jakaswanga on Jan 29, 2014 20:36:02 GMT 3
THE EXCLUSION OF KENYANS FROM AN EPOCH-DEFINING PROJECT! [part 1) Personally I think it is bullsh!t, that Kenya supposedly does not have engineers smart enough to design, build and supervise low-tech rail lines. Nor interrogate the quotations thereof! Waaah! Even tubes guys (that is the subway for you gringo Mank), the first (London underground) network was delivered in 1863 for heavens sake! Now I am being told all these Nairobi University age mates of mine and younger ---living civil mechanical and electrical engineers; all these JKUAT whizz-kids; all these Nairobi and Mombasa polytechnic masons and fitters and welders ---some of them with ace post-grads from savvy Western elite colleges like Dr. Riak Machar the gunman of Sudan! [Believe it or not Riak Machar’s true calling was Mechanical engineering before the prophesy’s of power seduced him!]; all these professionals are just pretenders, just useless substandard engineers and professional nobodies, mere laymen incapable of delivering something which has been around as a technical solution for 150 years! --- Ei, yawa!Good Lord, the Kenyan engineer is a total moron in this scenario! --I do not believe it one bit! Come on guys, building calverts, concrete or steel fly-overs, pouring kokoto evenly on a narrow strip of hardened ground; fixing constant distance between two heavy metals; mooring supporting hard-wood customer-cut timber or manufactured re-enforced concrete, for hundreds of kilometres in the tropics! Blasting hills and shifting rock ... etc etc [Vladivostok to Moscow to Stalingrad ] Even if it is a 100km viaduct to let wildebeests flow through in their migrations! is rocket science these days? The problem I think is, we think and know as Kenyans, that our Kenyan engineering brothers will steal all the cement to go and build their private mansions; steal all the sand, and beams and nails to construct their hotels, and then use the wrong rations in support works, so that the first rip of a locomotive on the rail will be a death ride! ---We suspect, even our world-class engineers will turn out to be simple thieves (just like the top lawyers at the JSC with their sitting allowance scam, like our Mpigs with their degrees, like our Governors too, like our MBCBs who run the national health service to the dogs! Yeah, we know ourselves only too well! In other words, we trust the Chinese will steal the money at the interest rate level and quotation, but however shoddy the work, they will not use kitchen ash for cement, lop-lwala for sand, corrugated roof gauge instead of super-strength steel support column; soft wood for hard wood, mallet bolt for steel nut and bolt! ----that is do everything to makes sure with the first rainy season, the railway is washed away to join the coral reefs of the ocean! I mean Kenyan entrusted with a national project is raping the country, Uhuruto with their ICC legal bills showing the way, why would the engineers be different? We are unnerved to trust ourselves with such a big project. Otherwise entrusted to Kenyan engineers, a successful completion would be the coming of age of our engineering faculties, the cutting of teeth of their prowess. The flag post of national intellectual achievement, as an alternative to Olympic primitive animal gallops races where we excel every four years! As it is here is a top bureaucrat Dr. Njiru disqualifying them engineers in toto! Fwaking infant headed Kenyan engineers, not even a single note of protest when they are being treated like illiterate morons! Or is it true they are?
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Post by jakaswanga on Jan 29, 2014 21:06:23 GMT 3
Part two
Well, none to defend the honour of the Kenyan engineer!
THE ABSENCE OF THE NATIVE FROM THE TABLE OF DECISIONS
Decisions impacting his future, holding his life and future earnings to ransom, are made above his head and in his absence: the native as a colonial citizen. His place is absence from the table of decisions, but THE full and total presence of his neck when the axe falls. He is bound to a future of debt reparations, and, clearing his throat to shout wait a moment, explain this bondage some more before we commit, there is none other than his President barking at him, as if his excellency indeed were a mere faithful dog to a foreign master, snarling on auto cue. Strange, such a dog be known as Independence! So what have the Chinese fed it to condition it thus? What Pavlov mechanism have they re-created? Have they only rented his faithful obedience for a single project, or have they poached his sensibility’s forever?
Questions questions everywhere, but not a single answer to hear! ---- [if you remember Orwell’s agonised, thirsty cry in the middle of the salty sea]
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Post by OtishOtish on Jan 29, 2014 22:33:10 GMT 3
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Post by mank on Jan 30, 2014 6:07:50 GMT 3
THE EXCLUSION OF KENYANS FROM AN EPOCH-DEFINING PROJECT! [part 1) Personally I think it is bullsh!t, that Kenya supposedly does not have engineers smart enough to design, build and supervise low-tech rail lines. Nor interrogate the quotations thereof! Waaah! Even tubes guys (that is the subway for you gringo Mank) , the first (London underground) network was delivered in 1863 for heavens sake! Now I am being told all these Nairobi University age mates of mine and younger ---living civil mechanical and electrical engineers; all these JKUAT whizz-kids; all these Nairobi and Mombasa polytechnic masons and fitters and welders ---some of them with ace post-grads from savvy Western elite colleges like Dr. Riak Machar the gunman of Sudan! [Believe it or not Riak Machar’s true calling was Mechanical engineering before the prophesy’s of power seduced him!]; all these professionals are just pretenders, just useless substandard engineers and professional nobodies, mere laymen incapable of delivering something which has been around as a technical solution for 150 years! --- Ei, yawa!Good Lord, the Kenyan engineer is a total moron in this scenario! --I do not believe it one bit! I am with you on that amigo. We are just too bent on thinking our lot inferior to the rest of the world. But now amigo, too soon after what seems to be your union with my sister (fully blessed by me), you seem to be learning some bad manners ... calling me names. I will make a very clear threat amigo ... if this continues you can't be my brother any more ... and I will chant every day that my sister should hate you ...and be nasty to you. You don't want that to happen to you. ... The problem I think is, we think and know as Kenyans, that our Kenyan engineering brothers will steal all the cement to go and build their private mansions; steal all the sand, and beams and nails to construct their hotels, and then use the wrong rations in support works, so that the first rip of a locomotive on the rail will be a death ride! ---We suspect, even our world-class engineers will turn out to be simple thieves (just like the top lawyers at the JSC with their sitting allowance scam, like our Mpigs with their degrees, like our Governors too, like our MBCBs who run the national health service to the dogs! Yeah, we know ourselves only too well! In other words, we trust the Chinese will steal the money at the interest rate level and quotation, but however shoddy the work, they will not use kitchen ash for cement, lop-lwala for sand, corrugated roof gauge instead of super-strength steel support column; soft wood for hard wood, mallet bolt for steel nut and bolt! ----that is do everything to makes sure with the first rainy season, the railway is washed away to join the coral reefs of the ocean! I mean Kenyan entrusted with a national project is raping the country, Uhuruto with their ICC legal bills showing the way, why would the engineers be different? We are unnerved to trust ourselves with such a big project. Otherwise entrusted to Kenyan engineers, a successful completion would be the coming of age of our engineering faculties, the cutting of teeth of their prowess. The flag post of national intellectual achievement, as an alternative to Olympic primitive animal gallops races where we excel every four years! As it is here is a top bureaucrat Dr. Njiru disqualifying them engineers in toto! Fwaking infant headed Kenyan engineers, not even a single note of protest when they are being treated like illiterate morons! Or is it true they are? Unfortunately the Kenyans who have had a chance to rehabilitate the expectations have mostly reaffirmed the pragmatism of it. I personally have a white elephant somewhere in Nairobi, which I abandoned after it turned out that the managers and the professionals who worked on it gave me a mushroom that could hardly hold itself to completion, leave alone being usable. That thing now suffocates any new energy to start a project. we all complain about themPigs but if you survey the society you notice that too many of us replicate the same eating mentality in the positions of their authority. It is demoralizing - soon we will need a totalitarian who executes public servants before the very public on evidence of stupid misappropriation that leaves us without our money, and without the faculty we bargained for. If we can't stop this public looting all together, lets at least go to the Kenyatta era brand of it ... very much the brand we gave the Chinese to play on us.
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Post by podp on Jan 30, 2014 22:34:29 GMT 3
THE EXCLUSION OF KENYANS FROM AN EPOCH-DEFINING PROJECT! [part 1)now suffocates any new energy to start a project. we all complain about themPigs but if you survey the society you notice that too many of us replicate the same eating mentality in the positions of their authority. It is demoralizing - soon we will need a totalitarian who executes public servants before the very public on evidence of stupid misappropriation that leaves us without our money, and without the faculty we bargained for. If we can't stop this public looting all together, lets at least go to the Kenyatta era brand of it ... very much the brand we gave the Chinese to play on us. Maji_Baridi • 5 hours ago − I'm pretty sure there must be foreign elements that are working overtime to prevent the growing Chinese influence in Africa. Their need to see this mega project scuttled is quite evident. Kenyans have to be really careful otherwise they'll be the eventual losers when projects don't get done or completed. The region badly needs this railway. So as far the greedy people looking to 'eat' & special interest groups, you'll get a fight trying to sabotage it. www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/standard-gauge-railway-fight-is-a-very-African-story-obbo/-/440808/2165446/-/12g1gp2/-/index.htmlwhen it comes to feats of engineering or any other man made activity let the money be spent and the effect left before our very own eyes. if the colonialists had not built the lunatic express probably the road network developed besides it and the attendant towns notably Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu etc. may never have been what we see today. for those who saw what was there before Thika super high way came into being with the attendant Northern bypass the amount and flurry of activity around this finished projects, especially real estate probably we would not be seeing the same picture. let the Standard Gauge Railway continue as we argue, froth and so forth about costs and since its a project of more than 5 years we have a golden opportunity to nab both PORK and deputy PORK come 2017 if it was all about theft. meanwhile let us demand more variations of Thika super high ways like Ndogo Kundu; Mombasa to Mariakani; Mombasa to Kilifi to Malindi; Nairobi to Nakuru; Kisumu to Kakamega;....and why not Kitale to Kapenguria to Lodwar....and what became of LAPPSET so that 'losers' on Standard Gauge Railway can try the Lamu to Isiolo to Lodwar route. meanwhile the star continues to shine on possible future PORK www.nation.co.ke/counties/120-security-cars-Machakos-County/-/1107872/2166768/-/1sn1s2z/-/index.html
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Post by omundu on Feb 2, 2014 12:39:21 GMT 3
The plot thickens fellas... www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000103682&story_title=fresh-twist-in-rail-saga-as-file-suddenly-goes-missingIt so happens that World bank black listed Chinese Construction company is not a Government entity but happens to have ghost kenyan shareholders. There is a kenyan registration number but the file is mysteriously missing. It also happens that the company, though having a record of civil works, has never laid a rail line, ever, in their history... Uhuru may not be a fan of newspapers, but surely folks, even ray charles could see that this thing stinks to high heaven. Would any of you entrust your money to build a home to a contractor who has never built a home ?
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Post by jakaswanga on Feb 2, 2014 15:09:06 GMT 3
The plot thickens fellas... www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000103682&story_title=fresh-twist-in-rail-saga-as-file-suddenly-goes-missingIt so happens that World bank black listed Chinese Construction company is not a Government entity but happens to have ghost kenyan shareholders. There is a kenyan registration number but the file is mysteriously missing. It also happens that the company, though having a record of civil works, has never laid a rail line, ever, in their history... Uhuru may not be a fan of newspapers, but surely folks, even ray charles could see that this thing stinks to high heaven. Would any of you entrust your money to build a home to a contractor who has never built a home ? www.nation.co.ke/news/Grand-railway-project-to-power-ahead-says-Uhuru/-/1056/2164292/-/d15cxcz/-/index.htmlWhy is Uhuru Kenyatta deliberately being disingenuous? I dare say we all want this railway! I have not heard anybody opposed to the project! ---The problem, and what people are opposed to, is its INFLATED PRICE, its FLAWED tendering process, tts opaque Government to Government sourcing, and the strange case of a single Chinese company doing the feasibility, construction, and fund-sourcing: A to Z. Note that is actually how oil companies work: prospecting, contracting, drilling, transportation, refining, and pump sales. ----But as a Kenyan you do not fund Tullow, they will take all the risks, and aim to run away with all the profit. But Rails? This is a loan we are going to pay: we are going into bondage, and therefore uttermost prudence is required in fine-combing every little clause of the contract. And this scrutiny is what Uhuru Kenyatta pretends he does not understand. He pretends it is sabotage, an attempt to derail the railway project. This project is shrouded in so much mystery, enveloped in so much darkness, it distinctly begins to be a case of bad faith: bad faith from the GOK, bad faith from PORK and DPORK, and bad faith from the Chinese. Railways are simple things these days, and when simple things become this complicated, we know we are being fried. ILLUSTRATION: 1. There is already a 100+ year [DISUSED] railway running from Mombasa to Nairobi. For a feasibility study on that trajectory, you could say, even a first year engineering student in the respective faculty, could just walk along the old track and write the engineering challenges, copying the old British chart from the 1880s. Geography has not changed much between Nairobi and Mombasa this past century. So when Kenyan engineers are banned, by government dictate, from walking along the old railway track, British EAR chart in hand, I know sh!t when I see it. Why therefore is the president being so openly stupid? Or is it a case of duplicity? Is there anybody against this railway really? Is it not that what the rest are against, is raw exploitation by an inflated costing? a scam quotation, and that the project should not be a smokescreen for the grand looting of the Kenyan treasury and taxpayer, which we are now sure it is. These hard questions being asked about the project, is called VIGILANCE! Since a fool and his money are soon parted. And we the Kenyan tax payers are blessed with governments which tend to ride us for fools. Like this one amongst others. Goldenberg, NHIF, NSSF, Anglo-leasing! We know our elite, we know their criminal and immoral greed! I therefore feel very free to question every cent spent on this project!? Could it not have been better spent? Is the president himself corrupted along with the others? [ Come on Uhuru Kenyatta! Files have started disappearing from the registrar’s office! A hand of God you think, Mr President!? What does Kibaki and Raila hide? And former transport minister Kimunya? Since when did he look himself in the mirror, our Amos, and not notice his portrait is the final image of Dorian Gray staring back at Dorian Gray? Wacha upuzi wewe Muigai, what we want is VALUE FOR OUR MONEY! WE WANT TO PREVENT A RIP-OFF! And, along, we want to forge our engineers into a hardier breed. Men and women who can do a bit more than the ABC basics they now engage in: [during the colonial period, the whites said of the blacks: however clever, they will never go past the ability of a five-year old white boy, so there is really no need to build any school above Primary for the natives. That is why independent schools developed in Kikuyuland, so that big brains like Mwai Kibaki could go places, and visionaries like the educationist Odera Akang’o in Luoland emerged, so that big brains like Argwings Kodhek could go places. So when Kenyan engineers are banned from the SGR from the start, I know a colonial parable when I see it: however clever, our engineers will never go beyond a semi-literate Chinese mechanic. ---THEREFORE Time for independent engineering schools and SOME REAL Uhuru! So that out engineers with big brains can go places! Well, that is kind of a slow process, and may need a mau mau stuff to speed it along. So meanwhile President Muigai is talking like a colonial governor full of arrogance: the railway will go on in its current form, pende usipende! Transparency and accountability is the last thing he wants. ---WHY? NB: You know China itself has got corruption all the way to the top too! So this could be the elites of both countries colluding to rip off the taxpayers of both countries! May be the project was not conceived by the government after all, and Uhuru is wrong on that assertion. I remember him as finance minister throwing money at retired general Kiang'a to go and revamp the old [Uganda] railway line. Was General Kiang'a ever heard of again after receiving the disbursement? part of which was to re-buy the old railway lands which had been confiscated by top bureacurats? Engineer Kamau told us yesterday the reason the railway is so expensive is ... partly due to purchases of land! The Old EAR was of course one of the greatest land owners in Kenya by the way. They owned half-Nairobi for instance, up to golf courses. Kaloleni, Shauri Moyo, Ofafa, Parklands, Ngara! That is all Railway Land. Pardon, that is all Masai land donated to the Railways! Just like Turkanas have donated their land to the Oil business! CARTELS! YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DO! Take your land by force, then force you to buy it back! and call it willing buyer willing seller! www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Lay-off-the-railway-Uhuru-tells-cartels/-/1064/2163710/-/138irp8z/-/
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Post by omundu on Feb 2, 2014 15:30:56 GMT 3
The plot thickens fellas... www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000103682&story_title=fresh-twist-in-rail-saga-as-file-suddenly-goes-missingIt so happens that World bank black listed Chinese Construction company is not a Government entity but happens to have ghost kenyan shareholders. There is a kenyan registration number but the file is mysteriously missing. It also happens that the company, though having a record of civil works, has never laid a rail line, ever, in their history... Uhuru may not be a fan of newspapers, but surely folks, even ray charles could see that this thing stinks to high heaven. Would any of you entrust your money to build a home to a contractor who has never built a home ? www.nation.co.ke/news/Grand-railway-project-to-power-ahead-says-Uhuru/-/1056/2164292/-/d15cxcz/-/index.htmlWhy is Uhuru Kenyatta deliberately being disingenuous? I dare say we all want this railway! I have not heard anybody opposed to the project! ---The problem, and what people are opposed to, is its INFLATED PRICE, its FLAWED tendering process, tts opaque Government to Government sourcing, and the strange case of a single Chinese company doing the feasibility, construction, and fund-sourcing: A to Z. Note that is actually how oil companies work: prospecting, contracting, drilling, transportation, refining, and pump sales. ----But as a Kenyan you do not fund Tullow, they will take all the risks, and aim to run away with all the profit. But Rails? This is a loan we are going to pay: we are going into bondage, and therefore uttermost prudence is required in fine-combing every little clause of the contract. And this scrutiny is what Uhuru Kenyatta pretends he does not understand. He pretends it is sabotage, an attempt to derail the railway project. This project is shrouded is shrouded in so much mystery, so much darkness, it distinctly begins to be a case of bad faith: bad faith from the GOK, bad faith from PORK and DPORK, and bad faith from the Chinese. Railways are simple things these days, and when simple things become this complicated, we know we are being fried. ILLUSTRATION: 1. There is already a 100+ year [DISUSED railway running from Mombasa to Nairobi. For a feasibility study on that traject, you could say, even a first year engineering student in the respective faculty, could just walk along the old track and write the engineering challenges, copying the old British chart from the 1880s. Geography has not changed much between Nairobi and Mombasa this past century. So when Kenyan engineers are banned, by government dictate, from walking along the old railway track, British EAR chart in hand, I know sh!t when I see it. Why therefore is the president being so openly stupid? Is there anybody against this railway really? Is it not that what the rest are against, is raw exploitation by an inflated costing? a scam quotation, and that the project should not be a smokescreen for the grand looting of the Kenyan treasury and taxpayer, which we are now sure it is. These hard questions being asked about the project, is called VIGILANCE! Since a fool and his money are soon parted. And we the Kenyan tax payers are blessed with governments which tend to ride us for fools. Goldenberg, NHIF, NSSF, Anglo-leasing! We know our elite, we know their criminal and immoral greed! I therefore feel very free to question every cent spent on this project!? Could it not have been better spent? Is the president himself corrupted along with the others? [ Come on Uhuru Kenyatta! Files have started disappearing from the registrar’s office! A hand of God you think, Mr President!? What does Kibaki and Raila hide? And former transport minister Kimunya? Since when did he look himself in the mirror, our Amos, and not notice his portrait is the final image of Dorian Gray staring back at Dorian Gray? Wacha upuzi wewe Muigai, what we want is VALUE FOR OUR MONEY! WE WANT TO PREVENT A RIP-OFF! And, along, we want to forge our engineers into a hardier breed. Men and women who can do a bit more than the ABC basics they now engage in: [during the colonial period, the whites said of the blacks: however clever, they will never go past the ability of a five-year old white boy, so there is really no need to build any school above Primary for the natives. That is why independent schools developed in Kikuyuland, so that big brains like Mwai Kibaki could go places, and visionaries like the educationist Odera Akang’o in Luoland emerged, so that big brains like Argwings Kodhek could go places. So when Kenyan engineers are banned from the SGR from the start, I know a colonial parable when I see it: however clever, our engineers will never go beyond a semi-literate Chinese mechanic. Time for independent engineering schools and Uhuru! So that out engineers with big brains can go places! Well, that is kind of a slow process, and may need a mau mau stuff to speed it along. So meanwhile President Muigai is talking like a colonial governor full of arrogance: the railway will go on in its current form, pende usipende! Transparency and accountability is the last thing he wants. ---WHY? NB: You know China itself has got corruption all the way to the top too! So this could be the elites of both countries colluding to rip off the taxpayers of both countries! www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Lay-off-the-railway-Uhuru-tells-cartels/-/1064/2163710/-/138irp8z/-/ Indeed Jakaswanga. Muigai should know that when this thing comes to ahead, it will be him and his cartel against the Nation. There won't be any tyranny of numbers here. The only tyranny of numbers here is the cost. There is a world bank report somewhere on the net, produced to explain why the bank denied funding for the project, deeming it not feasible. You have hinted on one of the reasons they state: why not just even upgrade the underused existing railway. I personally don't see this debacle ending well for the duo at the top. Picture a scene when the chinese together with police come evicting people to make way for the rail line... How will that end ? We only have to page our history books a few pages back to the initial 'lunatic express' chapter where the brits faced attacks from the locals during construction thanks to their elders and seers warning of a long snake slithering through the lands and out of its smoky mouth, shall arise a man of pale skin. Well... Fast forward a century later, the pale skin is now coming from the east and this time, with narrow slits in the place of eyes.
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Post by jakaswanga on Feb 2, 2014 15:52:12 GMT 3
Omundu mwana wefue, I asked where Director KR Jeremiah Kiang'a was. I went to look for him, and found him right beside engineer Kamau, the cab-sec transport. I want him to tell what he did with the disbursement Uhuru as MoF wired him to revamp the rail. He took the money and went bust, then went off the radar! and here he is again, resurfaced in this SGR thing. I do not like it! www.nation.co.ke/business/China-funds-to-build-high-speed-railway/-/996/1977446/-/view/printVersion/-/3hgabh/-/index.htmlPHOTO | SALATON NJAU The Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, Eng Michael Kamau (left), and Kenya Railways chairman Jeremiah Kianga after a tour of Kenya Railways facilities in Nairobi on September 2, 2013. The minister said plans to build a new railway line from Mombasa to Kisumu were at an advanced stage following the recent trade pact with China. NATION MEDIA GROUP www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenya-Railways-Sh50bn-in-the-red/-/539546/1864588/-/t6lopvz/-/index.htmlO, the story of railways! I love railways! and rail engineers, men like Brunel of Britain who had no precedents, but developed mouth-watering solutions to the problems, becoming legends of their craft in the process. And engineering becomes a cost-saving device, not a price inflating factor!
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Post by omundu on Feb 2, 2014 16:54:41 GMT 3
Omundu mwana wefue, I asked where Director KR Jeremiah Kiang'a was. I went to look for him, and found him right beside engineer Kamau, the cab-sec transport. I want him to tell what he did with the disbursement Uhuru as MoF wired him to revamp the rail. He took the money and went bust, then went off the radar! and here he is again, resurfaced in this SGR thing. I do not like it! www.nation.co.ke/business/China-funds-to-build-high-speed-railway/-/996/1977446/-/view/printVersion/-/3hgabh/-/index.htmlPHOTO | SALATON NJAU The Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, Eng Michael Kamau (left), and Kenya Railways chairman Jeremiah Kianga after a tour of Kenya Railways facilities in Nairobi on September 2, 2013. The minister said plans to build a new railway line from Mombasa to Kisumu were at an advanced stage following the recent trade pact with China. NATION MEDIA GROUP www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenya-Railways-Sh50bn-in-the-red/-/539546/1864588/-/t6lopvz/-/index.htmlO, the story of railways! I love railways! and rail engineers, men like Brunel of Britain who had no precedents, but developed mouth-watering solutions to the problems, becoming legends of their craft in the process. And engineering becomes a cost-saving device, not a price inflating factor! They are known these people. What worries me Jakaswanga is, how powerful are these people that the duo at the top are soo intent in protecting them ? Why is Uhuru blindly heading to disaster for the sake of these people ? He should take a leaf from Moi. In such situations, no one was indispensable under that regime. And where is our anti corruption watchdog ? Gichangi etc ? Does it go deeper than the few names mentioned ? And what happens when the parliamentary committees dig further and unearth more red herrings ? What if the courts stop the deal ? Does Uhuru then thrash the constitution and goes ahead ? At what cost ? What if parliament refuses to approve the funds as someone stated earlier ? How will the government enact the intended laws to make this project feasible ? It is not black or white as Uhuru may think the situation is. There are more than fifty shades of grey in this shafting. After reading your earlier standard link, I am actually left not supporting the project. A few things from the articles made me change my mind: The chinese dudes were approached for a design, build, operate. They would rake in the profits until they are satisfied before handing it back to wananchi. That was the initial plan. This shows that the project wasn't actually needed. No research was done showing that we desperately need the railway. It was not, and is still not feasible. And that's why several 'reputable' banks washed their hands off it before the chinese came in. And that's why the Government wants to enact laws forcing consumers to use the railway plus an increased levy. They are forcing things that should come naturally in a feasible project. Basically they are using Socialist principles to aid a highly naked capitalist venture. Doesn't that ring bells ? Second: they had initially gone for electric rails, then a double gauge and now it is a single gauge railway (which is exactly what we have currently) there will be nothing extraordinarily different. And for what ? Studies don't show that the existing railway is breaking at the seams with demand for transport is there ? And that's why the most feasible option, as the world bank put it, would be to upgrade the existing line. Even our so called engineers and contractors can 'uproot' (hehehehe) an existing line, smelt and re - engineer the bad sectors, and re-alighn them can't they ? Sometimes all we can do is just look and laugh in bewilderment.
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Post by podp on Feb 2, 2014 19:26:26 GMT 3
They are known these people. What worries me Jakaswanga is, how powerful are these people that the duo at the top are soo intent in protecting them ? Why is Uhuru blindly heading to disaster for the sake of these people ?He should take a leaf from Moi. In such situations, no one was indispensable under that regime. And where is our anti corruption watchdog ? Gichangi etc ? Does it go deeper than the few names mentioned ? And what happens when the parliamentary committees dig further and unearth more red herrings ? What if the courts stop the deal ? Does Uhuru then thrash the constitution and goes ahead ? At what cost ? What if parliament refuses to approve the funds as someone stated earlier ? How will the government enact the intended laws to make this project feasible ? It is not black or white as Uhuru may think the situation is. There are more than fifty shades of grey in this shafting. Sometimes all we can do is just look and laugh in bewilderment. Telling the taxpayer to “shut up or ship out” is a demonstration of arrogant and authoritarian behaviour of the most despicable type in an otherwise democratic polity. .... The first group are those the President calls “those who lost in the bidding process.” It would be important, for the sake of transparency, to name these fellows. The second group are partners in Jubilee who have no real problem with the project except for the fact that they may have been excluded from the deal-making behind implementation of the project. www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000103707&story_title=Kenya-by-gagging-talk-on-rail-tender-uhuru-is-simply-fomenting-credibility-fearsbut the best answer to the 1st red high light, in my opinion is ...there can only be two reasons for the perceived change of heart – he (PORK and deputy PORK) is either trying to raise campaign money for the next presidential poll or recoup the billions he spent in the last elections. www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000103685&story_title=railway-plan-presents-major-economic-headache-for-jubilee-as-leaders-disagree&pageNo=2
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