eliakeem
JF-Expert Member
- May 29, 2009
- 15,654
- 13,796
There are a lot of contradictions Surrounding the Issue.
Anybody can give facts and figures on Value for Money (VfM)
Will Kenya get value for money from its new railway? - BBC News
The first major new railway line in Kenya for more than a century, running between the capital Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa, faces an immediate challenge of justifying its relatively high cost.
At $5.6m per kilometre for the track alone, Kenya's line cost close to three times the international standard and four times the original estimate.
So it is perhaps not surprising that Kenyans have been asking why they seem to have paid so much.
Kenya's new 472km (293 mile) railway is the country's biggest infrastructure investment since its independence in 1963. Built to a modern "standard gauge", it runs parallel to the now-dilapidated metre gauge railway line from the colonial era.
While everyone agrees that Kenya desperately needs more infrastructure, not everyone agrees that this was the most economically sensible solution.
Cost comparisons have been made between this line and Ethiopia's 756km Addis Ababa-Djibouti line launched last year.
Both are Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) projects financed by Chinese loans, costing $3.4bn (£2.6bn) for Ethiopia and $3.2bn for Kenya.
Ethiopia's line is more than 250km longer and is electrified, which is typically more expensive; trains running on Kenya's line will be diesel-powered.
Anybody can give facts and figures on Value for Money (VfM)
Will Kenya get value for money from its new railway? - BBC News
The first major new railway line in Kenya for more than a century, running between the capital Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa, faces an immediate challenge of justifying its relatively high cost.
At $5.6m per kilometre for the track alone, Kenya's line cost close to three times the international standard and four times the original estimate.
So it is perhaps not surprising that Kenyans have been asking why they seem to have paid so much.
Kenya's new 472km (293 mile) railway is the country's biggest infrastructure investment since its independence in 1963. Built to a modern "standard gauge", it runs parallel to the now-dilapidated metre gauge railway line from the colonial era.
While everyone agrees that Kenya desperately needs more infrastructure, not everyone agrees that this was the most economically sensible solution.
Cost comparisons have been made between this line and Ethiopia's 756km Addis Ababa-Djibouti line launched last year.
Both are Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) projects financed by Chinese loans, costing $3.4bn (£2.6bn) for Ethiopia and $3.2bn for Kenya.
Ethiopia's line is more than 250km longer and is electrified, which is typically more expensive; trains running on Kenya's line will be diesel-powered.
