So according to your statements Uhuru is in a race against time. Afike Uganda haraka before TZ does. Also to avoid a possible price war… and what happens when TZ finally completes their railway? Even if its ten years from now? Na ujue yao itakuwa electric and more efficient since it also has less meanders…
And this subsidy you are calling the railway devpt. Levy, it’s just a forceful tax on containers! Uhuru is forcing Kenyans to pay for his train! Then he goes further and says all containers MUST be ferried by SGR… kwani Kenya is now a communist state? I imagine someone will run to court soon. And I’ve read that the railway levy is currently being taxed even on containers being ferried on lorries…
And indeed Tuju is on record as a party leader saying that Jubilee is adopting the Chinese communist stance from the grassroots up…
So Uhuru will indeed force people to use his SGR. That is fact. A train we don’t own. It is clearly part of the one belt, one road initiative. Oil and minerals out of East Africa and Chinese products coming inland just like the British colonialists did a few decades ago. And how many barrels of oil will it need to move to break even??
So you tax Kenyans billions every year and then throw ten billion to maintain this train and you still have to repay the Chinese loan… that’s crazy.
And these industries you keep mentioning in industrial area do they even exist any more? Nope. China killed them, with cheap Chinese imports.
And Uhuru has opened the doors and these Chinese fellows have come flooding in. They are in every town now. They bring all their products DIRECT… they now know the market just like Xi jinping wants them to do… it’s a colonization. Kutaenda aje, because they won’t leave any time soon? They like it here na wameambiwa Kenya is now another province of China, Xi jinping has bought the country. Part of the one belt one road program! Amenunua nchi! They even own the escrow account that collects SGR ticket fees! Even the ten billion subsidy each year is ending up paying Chinese worker’s huge salaries. It was exposed in the standard!
And this sgr will pulverize the few remaining indegenous industries with more Chinese imports.
And the Uhuruto govt. is making very little inroads into the industrial parks they promised in 2013. Parks that could maybe… pay for this sgr and make it profitable. But si tutakuwa tu hii Kenya wakijaribu ku dispose this very SGR just as they recently tried to dispose the lunatic express to anyone who cared to buy it; wacha tutaona.
And you know Uhuruto will one day leave. And believe me I’m not the only one thinking about Air cargo. There are others who also know of it’s efficiency and viability. The profitable Kencargo will be revived proper, you can’t kill it when that day comes. So what happens to the SGR on that day? Just like in other countries air cargo will eat a huge chunk of SGR business when that day comes.
People know of air cargo. Ni kwuuliwa iliuliwa na wakora and these wakoras will one day leave the scene. Them and their trucks. And air cargo will make a very strong come back. Already you can see the demand for air transport with rich fellows purchasing helicopters every other day. You can’t kill it. It’s coming one way or the other. What happens to the SGR, then?
Those countries you mentioned, China, Japan, Germany… who have viable railways, they are all rich with very profitable industries. Something to note. Rich economies that can afford to pay for those loss making, super expensive railways.
With surpluses in their annual GDPs, those developed countries can afford to throw billions of dollars to operate their loss making railways. With maybe the exception of Japan which has PRIVATIZED its railways. And even those privately owned railways in Japan get a third of their revenues by letting out land to shopping malls and offices. A whole third of revenue is rental and leasing fees:
Why Japan leads the world in high-speed trains
All the other rich countries including French railways, recieve govt. subsidies. Even Chinese railway receive huge subsidies. Nixon was actually waiting for Amtrak to die a natural death because it was a dying horse anyway but he didn’t want the public to ridicule him as the president who finally killed American railroads. So he continued to throw a little money at it just to sustain it. Other govts that followed republican or democrat they didn’t want to be found responsible for the death of Amtrak either because they consider it political suicide. “Your leader killed Amtrak.”
So they similarly continued to throw money at Amtrak.
Except Trump who has slashed Amtrak subsidies. And a train is not like maintaining a road. You can ignore roads for years with zero govt. subsidies to repair them and nothing bad happens.
Uhuruto HAVE TO maintain the SGR. In Kenya consecutive govts. ignore the roads all the time and life moves on. They collect fuel levies and other taxes but ignore drivers, but we still survive with potholes and mud. A train can’t survive without money. It can’t jump potholes! Watatoboa kulipa for decades ama itakuwa kama lunatic express? Wacha tutaona.
Amtrak still receives billions of dollars in subsidies even in the North east which you said is profitable.
Amtrak Needs $38 Billion for Northeast Corridor Repairs - Bloomberg
To convert Amtrak passenger travel to the level of efficiency in Japan the U.S. govt. would have to pump in 150 billion U.S. dollars!
Something that won’t happen any time soon. Anyway umeniambia ndege zangu ni upus idea, si tutakuwa hapa tu Kenya tu, wacha tutajionea.