'I was the brains behind Kenya Standard Gauge Railway'

[John Ashworth]

I was the brains behind Standard Gauge Railway — Wanjigi

Businessman Jimi Wanjigi has revealed that he was the brains behind the Standard Gauge Railway...

Wanjigi said SGR was initially supposed to cost Sh55 billion but said the figure skyrocketed to over Sh300 billion. "What I recall of the project cost was something like Sh55 billion, from Mombasa to Malaba. After 2013, it came to my attention that it was now not a project worth Sh300 billion just from Mombasa to Nairobi. And I said this does not make sense to me. This is where we differed on policy," he said...

Wanjingi said the SGR which he birthed in 2008 with a company called China Road and Bridge was supposed to be a private railway not public. "We birthed it, we spent a lot of money doing what you call feasibility studies and technical studies. The intention was to make it private nothing to do with the government. In fact, the government was only supposed to provide land for it which we were prepared to lease. It was like a real estate project," he said. "It not only became about money it also was about government doing it. The intention was not to take taxpayers money for this project." He said the railway line was supposed to run from Mombasa to Malaba and not just to Nairobi...