Jimmy Wanjigi Says Jubilee Gov't Inflated SGR Cost from Sh55 Billion to over Sh300 Billion

Businessman-cum-politician Jimmy Wanjigi claims that the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was initially set to cost Sh55 billion.

Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV, Wanjigi stated that he was the brain behind the project, saying that he negotiated an agreement with China Road and Bridge Corporation for the construction of the railway.

He indicated that the change of the initial agreements with the Chinese company as the project progressed was the reason why he fell out with the Jubilee administration.

“SGR was a project birthed by me in 2008 with a company called China Road and Bridge. We birthed it, we spent a lot of money doing what you call feasibility studies and technical studies,” said Wanjigi.

“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 Sh55 billion between Mombasa and Malaba but 300-plus billion just from Mombasa to Nairobi. And I said this does not make sense to me. This is where we differed.”

Wanjigi, who is seeking to run for president on an ODM ticket, further revealed that the railway was supposed to be a public-private project, with the government only leasing the land but the Jubilee administration backtracked on the plan.

“The intention when we began was that rail was going to be a private rail, nothing to do with government. The government was just supposed to provide the land which we were prepared to lease, it was like a real estate project,” he stated.

He added: “My intention and the intention of China Road and Bridge was for it to be a public-private partnership, but then it became a government project. The debt we have today for that railway is phenomenal. This was extended further from Syokimau to a place called Duka Moja beyond Mai Mahiu, for another Sh185 billion, that’s public money.”