One of the new buildings in Kathekani Market Centre, one of the centres that had died economically but which has now been revived as a result of the SGR project.
In neighbouring Kathekani location, 48-years old Ndulo Mbae, the chairman of Kathekani market says the railway project has seen the revival of the once-dead market centre. The market, along the old Nairobi-Mombasa highway, is now a bee-hive of activity.
Mbulo says business is now booming, with shop, hotel and posho mill-owners seeing an increase in number of customers. The market neighbours the SGR sleeper-making factory. Some of the factory’s workers live in the centre and majority of them come there for lunch every day.
Mbulo says whereas the market had only three shops in the past, now it has more than 20 shops. He says previously there were only two eating places in the market.
“This was a dead market, there were no people, now there are more than 50 eateries around here,” he says. “Now, we even have money transfer businesses in the market centre.”
He was referring to the internationally known mobile money transfer service, M-PESA.
‘We also have barbershops whereas we had none in the past,” he says.
He says over 300 workers come to the market centre at any one time. This has led to the eateries in the centre, which previously served only tea, to graduate into preparing a variety of foods, assured of a ready clientele from the factory workers.
Mbulo remembers that when the old highway was relocated in 2005, it led to the decline of towns along the road, among them Kathekani, Kithokoi, Kambu, Machinery and Hillside.
“When the old Kenya Railways stopped its operations, many of the towns along the road died,” he says nostalgically. But with the coming into place of the SGR project, this is now a thing of the past.
He adds that the good fortunes in the area can now be seen in homes where previously there was no livestock, now some of them own domestic animals like goats and cows.
These may seem to be small achievements for some, but for the local community, they are not. Mbulo says parents who could not take their children to school are now able to do so because they have money.
The principal of Miangeni High School Annastacia Mutie agrees.
“Some parents are now doing business and they are able to raise money which they now use to pay school fees for their children,” she says.
With increased population and interaction with outsiders, the lifestyle of the people is also being affected, with vices like prostitution becoming a challenge for the locals.
“There is need for civic education to teach people the importance of safe sex and other healthy practices,” Mbulo says.
He adds that the government should also put up a police post in the area to deal with the challenges of crime and other security issues that are now cropping up in the area.
Mbulo decries the frequent water shortages that have now become a part of their lives because of destruction of water pipelines by the ongoing construction work. He says the CRBC should find a solution to this problem.
“Without water there is no life,” he says.
Locals say CRBC should respond fast to the concerns of the residents without waiting for them to demonstrate on the streets as it has happened in the past.
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Compensation money tearing families apart…
Chief Paul Luvai of Mtito Andei location, Makueni County. He says the SGR project has brought strains in family relations in the area.
Paul Luvai is the chief of Mtito Andei location. He says the railway project has brought good tidings to the town. “Even though some people were displaced (or relocated), the people have gained because they received money, bought land, built houses, some even bought vehicles with the money,” he says. He says that the construction of the railway in the town has created employment for the youth, and brought about new business ventures like sand harvesting and selling, and lending of money by ‘shylocks’. He says the increased demand for land has led to increase in cost of land, from around Ksh. 150,000 to Ksh. 350,000, for a piece of land 50 by 100 metres. “The crime rate has gone down. Incidents of petty crimes that used to be reported in my office have gone down,” he says. He attributes this to the fact that many idle youth, who previously engaged in petty crime for survival, now have a source of income through employment in the SGR project. The cost of renting houses in Mtito Andei town has also gone up. Initially, one could get a house for between Ksh.1,000 and 1,800. This has now gone up to between Ksh. 2,000 and 5,000, for a one bed-roomed house. One other positive development that has come about is that the China Road and Bridge Company (CRBC) that is undertaking the project has sub-contracted locals to do some of the works like land-scaping. The CRBC also buys sand from local sand-harvesting groups that have been formed to take advantage of the current situation. Luvai says that businessmen in the town have reported increased business, and today it is not easy to find houses that are vacant. “Lodgings have also increased,” he says. And like every other venture, the SGR project has brought with it some negatives. He says that noise and dust pollution have increased. Blasting of rocks in quarries has also led to tremors which is causing cracks in buildings. “The environmentalists have made assessments and said compensation will be paid to those who are within a 300-metres radius,” he says. But he is appealing for the company to reconsider this since there are houses outside the 300-metre radius that have also been affected. “The locals have been engaging with the contractor, our Liaison Officers as well as Social Environmentalists to address the concerns earlier raised – dust and noise pollution,” says Kenya Railways Corporate Affairs Manager, Mary Oyuke. She says CRBC committed to repair houses and compensate those whose homes would be affected by quarry works. Chief Luvai say the money that some families received as compensation is threatening to tear them apart. He says he has had to deal with cases where family members have disagreed on how to spend or share the money. “I have handled more than ten cases of wrangles in families as a result of disagreements on money,” he says. Some men, once they receive the compensation money, run away from home and get attached to prostitutes, with whom they spend the money. In some families, the parents have refused to share the money with their older children, some who are already married and have families of their own, who were also displaced by the construction project. Chief Luvai says he has had to intervene in some instances and asked banks not to pay some beneficiaries before they settle disagreements with their family members. He says in future, there should be sensitization and education for those who are compensated, so they use wisely the money they get, since many have never handled the kind of money they got for compensation. He also said since the project had interfered with distribution of water in the area and the road network, to the inconvenience of the residents, the project implementers need to provide alternatives to make the lives of locals more bearable. Despite reassurance by the CRBC, residents fear that the construction will lead to more human-wildlife conflict as a result of the construction interfering with wildlife corridors in the Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks.
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