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{
    "id": 1503214,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503214/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 454,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The tragedy that befell this country is the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). I remember, Hon. Temporary Speaker, because I was here as a Member of the Public Investments Committee. Part of the things that we insisted on to be done in the reports that we tabled before this House was to ensure that subcontracts were being given to local entrepreneurs but because there was no law — it was just a recommendation of a parliamentary committee — it was never done. Today, if we want to extend the railway from where it ends, some sections call it railway to nowhere, in a bush somewhere near Naivasha… If we are to extend that railway today, as the intent is to Malaba, we have no local contractors with the expertise and the technology in the construction of rail. Ten years ago, if we had insisted, this law would be there. If we had also insisted that local entrepreneurs be subcontracted, we would be having people today with the technology and the skills in the construction of rail and local contractors would have benefited. I hope that by the time we get a new Public Private Partnership (PPP) to construct the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), this law will be in place. By the time we are building a new SGR, signing a contract to transmit power, this law will be in place and whichever other partners come in with skills, there is a process through which we can transfer skills, transfer knowledge, empower our local contractors and entrepreneurs."
}