[SIZE=6]Tribunal halts Nairobi-Naivasha SGR construction[/SIZE]http://mobile.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/3387452/medRes/1440469/-/4c4axx/-/sgr-pic.jpg
Workers constructing a section of the standard gauge railway (SGR). The National Environment Tribunal has temporarily stopped the construction of the Naivasha-Nairobi section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) until a dispute challenging it is determined. FILE PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP [SIZE=4]By ABIUD OCHIENG[/SIZE]More by this Author
The National Environment Tribunal has temporarily stopped the construction of the Naivasha-Nairobi section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) until a dispute challenging it is determined.
“The tribunal directs that all activities relating to the project in question must be stopped until the appeal is heard and determined by the Tribunal,” read the order issued Monday.
The tribunal also directed the Principal Secretary Ministry of Environment, director-general of the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema), and Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) managing director to respond to the application within 21 days.
Others to respond within the same period are the National Land Commission (NLC), Principal Secretary Ministry of Transport, China Road & Bridges Corporation (Kenya), the director Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and Attorney-General.
The appeal has been filed by Activist Okiyah Omtatah and a lobby group, Kenya Coalition for Wildlife Conservation and Management, claiming that KRC and the Chinese firm have commenced phase two of the SGR Project by tunnelling in Ngong Hills, and approving the routing through Nairobi National Park, and densely populated areas in Kajiado County, without following the law.
“KRC and China Road & Bridges Corporation (Kenya), have embarked on the second phase of the SGR project without conducting environmental and social impact assessment and without receiving the requisite approval from Nema,” argue the applicants in their papers.
Just because the railway is a good development does not mean we should not do our best to preserve nature, a minority opinion today might be a majority opinion tomorrow, hizo assessments zifanywe tujue what kind of disruption we have to.deal with.
