The first phase of the underground railway line in Nairobi, running beneath the Central Business District (CBD) to Eastlands, will cost more than Ksh1 trillion, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has disclosed. Appearing before the Senate National Security Committee on Thursday, July 23, Sakaja stated the Nairobi Mass Rapid Transit System (NMRTS) had received Cabinet approval as the city seeks a long-term solution to congestion. According to Sakaja, the first phase of the project will require at least Ksh1 trillion (USD7.
78 billion), with funding expected to come from different stakeholders." I will be very happy to share with you what is so clear on phase one of what we need. It is USD7.
78 billion (Ksh1trillion). But the USD7. 78 billion has been broken down into different components of financing,"Sakaja stated.
According to the Governor, the project will be funded by the national government, pension funds and transport-oriented development initiatives. The national government will contribute at least Ksh388 billion towards the project, while additional funding would be raised through land value capture, where increased land value around transport corridors is used to support infrastructure development." Some is coming from the pension funds.
Some will come from transport-oriented development because of land value capture. Some of it will come from government, at least USD 3 billion (Ksh388 billion),"Sakaja informed the committee. The announcement comes a day after the Nairobi County Cabinet approved plans for the railway line, which will be the first ever constructed in the country.
The first phase will include an underground rail core through the CBD and the Eastlands Line, connecting key commuter routes in the city." By integrating an underground CBD core with high-capacity links to Eastlands, we will unlock Nairobi's economic potential, lower the cost of transport and build a cleaner, greener and world-class city,"Sakaja stated on Wednesday, July 22. Plans for a metro system, Sakaja stated, date back to 1948, when Nairobi planners proposed a ring railway and CBD rail links.
Similar proposals were later included in the 1972 Nairobi Metropolitan Growth Strategy and the 2014 Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Plan, but were never implemented. The Governor stated a project management unit will be established to oversee implementation, adding that previous feasibility studies by international partners, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), had provided a foundation for the project. He further disclosed that Nairobi's underground conditions make it suitable for tunnelling, arguing that the city faces fewer underground utility challenges than older global cities.
Sakaja cited the construction of the underground crossing at Haile Selassie Avenue and Uhuru Highway as an example of Nairobi's ability to undertake underground infrastructure projects. The proposed metro system will be integrated with other transport modes, including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines and non-motorised transport networks, as part of efforts to create a more efficient urban transport system.