President Uhuru Kenyatta came out strongly and proclaimed that he would disappoint anyone who criticised him over the SGR project which has been the subject of debates since the launch of its second phase in October 2019.
On Tuesday, December 17, while commissioning the SGR freight operations to Naivasha Inland Container Depot at Syokimau in Machakos County, Kenyatta reiterated the importance of the railway project.
In his speech, released by the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), the head of state argued that it would create jobs and better lives for Kenyans.
President Uhuru Kenyatta arrives at the SGR Nairobi Terminus for the commissioning of the SGR Freight Operations to the Naivasha Inland Container Depot on Tuesday, December 17
"It’s important to learn from history. Nairobi owes its existence to the Kenya-Uganda Railway. Before the rail line, there was no Nairobi. With time, we will prove wrong the naysayers who claim the railway to Naivasha is the railway to nowhere .
"Despite all the criticism and the negative stories about the SGR, the necessity of the project and the wisdom in the investment is being vindicated with time," he affirmed.
Kenyatta was speaking in response to various publications that had described Phase 2A of the SGR as a waste of resources.
He went on to disclose that investors had seized the opportunity to develop Kenya through the project.
"We are glad to note that, already, there is an investor who has moved in at the ICD in Naivasha. Many more investors have expressed interest in the ICD.
"As a government, we are busy implementing a holistic approach to development in the country. The massive investments we are committing to infrastructural projects are meant to improve connectivity and spread development to every part of the country," he added.
On Friday, December 13, Kenyatta inaugurated the Garissa Solar Power Farm , a key project which saw Kenya ranked top five in the 2019 Climatescope Index released by the Bloomberg
New Energy Finance (BNEF2019).
While at Syokimau, he recalled how impossible it had seemed to visualise the solar project.
"Recently, we unveiled the Garissa Solar Power Farm. Not so long ago, such projects in certain parts of our country would have been difficult to imagine. But now, Garissa not only enjoys connectivity to the national power grid, but it is actually generating power for use by the rest of the country.
I must commend Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and senior government officials who continue to work tirelessly to deliver on major development projects despite all the negative and ill-informed criticism. They are our true patriots," Kenyatta lauded.
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