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"id": 205888,
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"content": "Mr. Kagwe): Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Motion and congratulate the Minister for Transport, indeed, for the improvement he is making in the sector. I would like to point out a few areas we must address, as the Government, so that we can have further improvements. Kenya, and specifically Nairobi is beginning to be known as the service centre for this part of the world, particulary when it comes to matters of service; may they be financial, banking or transport services. When it comes to transport services, Nairobi is the hub for the region. If you want to get a connection, the fastest place to get a connection in this continent is, in fact, Nairobi. Consequently, one of the areas that, as a Government, and as a people, we must address very quickly and seriously, is the issue of airport services. As we speak, the Nairobi Airport Services (NAS) holds a monopoly. Consequently, there has been a couple of questions regarding the services offered by the NAS. That means that the Minister - and I am sure he is doing this - is looking at creating competitive services in this area. I think the Minister's proposal will go far into creating a competitive well serviced airport. The matatu business is big business. Many people have talked about it. There is a lot of debate on what ought to be done regarding matatus . I am aware that the Minister is also addressing the matter of the now increasing road accidents on our roads, particularly where some people have already began to overspeed and misbehave. The Minister's actions on this area are very good. One of the ways of doing this is to increase the fines regarding when one makes mistakes or causes accidents on our roads, especially if it was caused by overspeeding. The fines, thereof, should be reflective of the offence. If you look at other countries in the world like the Great Britain and the United States of America, you will see that the number of vehicles on their roads are far greater than the number of vehicles on our roads, and yet the number of accidents on those roads are far less than the number of accidents on our roads. This is not something that only the Government is responsible for. It is something that even the citizens are responsible for. The deterrence in the UK, Sweden, US and in Finland is simply the huge fines which are meted out on the people who commit offences that potentially cause deaths in our country. Therefore, increased fines for offences committed on our roads is, perhaps, the way we will have to go because there is no other way. The other proposal that I want to congratulate the Minister for, is the issue of the second corridor. This country has only one corridor from the coast which was built so many years ago by the colonialists when they built the Uganda Railways. Now that the simbas are no more, we can build them a lot faster than the last time. The idea of the creation of the Port of Lamu to serve, not only Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eastern and Northern Provinces and parts of the Rift Valley, it will open up these provinces for modern development because there is nothing equal to transport. There 3654 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES September 4, 2007 are those who ask: \"Where are you building this road to and why is it going where there are no people?\" This is a chicken and egg business. Which one comes first? The transport to the place or the people who go there? I propose to you that if you build a road to nowhere, people will go there. Therefore, if the structures are correct and the transport systems like roads and railways are available for sparsely populated districts and provinces such as North Eastern, I am sure that people will go there and do business in those areas. So, I want to congratulate the Minister and urge him to continue fighting for the second port in Lamu. That is particularly because it is now possible for us to build huge projects on the basis of private capital, on the basis of build, operate and transfer. This is something new in this country and we have not heard a lot of it going and consequently there are those who will see it as selling our land to nationals of other countries and foreigners as it were. But this is how the modern world is being built today; on the basis build, operate and transfer. It is very unlikely that from our Budget from Treasury, we are going to raise US$10 billion to construct Mombassa Port and another railway line to the Lamu Port. It is very unlikely that we are going to allocate that money. But if we go for a build, operate and transfer, then we will succeed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are those who will say that we are giving away too much. We are giving away our land to those people. But my question is: What is that land currently being used for? I put it to my colleagues that if we give that land for somebody to use it for 20 years and we own whatever is built on it, it is much better used than keeping the land there. What happens is that, 20 years later, you look back and see that the land is exactly the same way and nothing has happened on it. If you had done something 20 years earlier, you would have been successful. Therefore, my view is to urge the Minister to continue negotiating with organizations and companies that would like to partner with us on the basis of build, operate and transfer so that our nation can be developed not just on the basis of capital available in this country but on capital available all over the world. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, coming back to the issue of roads again, there is the issue of roadworthiness. As you know, we were determining vehicle roadworthiness on the basis of the issue that one had to go for vehicle inspection. As we travel along the Kenyan roads and we see some of those vehicles on our roads, we must ask ourselves if those vehicles are a potential accident simply waiting to happen. In the United Kingdom, for example, there is the Ministry of Transport Sticker. They call it MOT. It is basically a determination of the roadworthiness of a vehicle that is on the road. There are those who will say that this is a poor country and so, as long as it is moving on the roads, then it should be allowed to be there. But there is a great extent to which we can allow some of these things. So, it is not that we want only new vehicles on our roads but we want good and properly maintained vehicles on the roads. But we must also have some sort of measure of roadworthiness. It is the only way that the insurance companies themselves can determine--- If the Government has determined that a vehicle should be on the road, then it follows that an insurance company can insure that vehicle. The issue of creating a legislative mechanism to determine vehicle-worthiness on our roads is vital. I am sure that the Minister is also looking at that. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other one is the issue of harmonization of both transport outside urban areas and within urban areas because one cannot work without the other. As you know, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Local Government sit in joint committees that are supposed to determine the way forward on planning and on future transportation; how Kenyans will be transported tomorrow. It is important for us, as a Government - we are doing so - and Kenyans to know that we are harmonizing those two areas. There is no point moving people into towns on very good roads and then get into a massive jam when they get into the cities or vice- versa. We have very good urban transportation but as soon as you leave the urban areas, then you September 4, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3655 get into bad roads. Therefore, that harmonization is very important. Nairobi has reached a point where Nairobians are crying due to the level of traffic jams that we have. Given the fact that the Kibaki Administration is winning the next elections and coming back and also given the fact that the current growth in the economy of 6.1 per cent is likely to grow to 7.1 per cent or 8.1 per cent heading to 10 per cent, that will translate to probably more vehicles. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}