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"id": 854962,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/854962/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13131,
"legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
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"content": "other projects that are being considered by the county. At the national level, I have said and I am sorry – I know my Deputy Senate Majority Leader is here – but I do not understand why as a country, we are insisting on doing a Kshs480 billion project to add another layer of road from Mombasa to Nairobi, yet we still cannot get jobs for our young people and are unable to provide, just with Kshs45 billion, a mass transit system for Nairobi City County. I am talking about a metro system with trams and a light rail. Addis Ababa has done it for USD457 million. In fact, theirs was a loan and not even a PPP. Today, if you do an Expression of Interest (EOI), advertise it internationally in the Time Magazine and request for proposals or you have an EOI for anybody willing to come and implement a mass transit system in Nairobi City County – build and operate transfer for 10 years, collect the bus fare and the tolls – people will be falling over themselves at the door. The TGV of Paris, Qataris, Americans and the Spanish will be here because it is viable. This is a county of close to six million people transiting through it every day. It has the resources and an annual budget of Kshs32 billion. The Kshs45 billion project can be paid back even in less than 10 years. By doing this project, you are then able to increase the economic viability of Nairobi City County and people will not spend hours on end in traffic. Today, if I want to go to Githurai from Nairobi, I just go to the station, and I am there in five minutes. There will be predictability as it used to be when I was growing up in Nairobi and we knew that at 10.00 a.m. there is a Kenya Bus Service (KBS) coming and a No.42 will come from Huruma all the way to Kibera without going through town. Mr. Speaker, Sir, you cannot have a 21st Century modern city, fastest growing in this continent, with a 19th Century transit system. I would prioritise that before I go to look for Bechtel or whoever is doing that project to build another road from Mombasa to Nairobi, I would prioritise the provision of health facilities and finish Mathare North Hospital which potentially has 320 bed capacity but it is a white elephant project even from the time of the former Governor of Nairobi City County. It needs just Kshs2 billion to complete before doing a double decker road in this country. That is why I am saying that these projects for their prioritisation and for them to be factored as PPP projects, need to be brought to the Senate. I am appealing to the Members of the Committee on Finance and Budget to see the sense in that. Otherwise, governors will prioritise projects that will give them direct benefits in one way or another – either political or financial benefit that accrues to them. A big problem that we are facing in this county is garbage, yet in other countries, there are private companies fighting to buy garbage. In fact, there are countries that import garbage because of waste to energy. If, today, we are able to properly structure, as provision, through which we, of course, still secure our young people---. Sen. Mugo will tell you that our young people want to be involved in the estates. She knows she is a legend in leadership in Nairobi City County and she understands. Her constituency used to extend all the way to town. It was a rural-urban constituency but she knows the dynamics. So, we involve the youth but we make sure that you have set up a company together with the people of, for instance, Dandora at the dumpsite, that source and collect the garbage, process it and put energy into the grid and the profits then go The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}