SGR staff gaffed more than $ 1 billion a month

A Chinese company that operates the Standard Gauge Railway tried to link its local employees to a secret code, even though Kenya Railways defended the monthly expenses of Sh1 billion.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which has been shaken by accusations of racism, has asked local staff to sign confidentiality agreements to prevent them from taking photos and sharing them with them. other media. 19659002] ALSO READ:

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"Do not post negative articles or writings or videos or photos on social networks or Facebook or YouTube involving SGR operations "Standard reads in part.

This comes at a time when the CBRC has been shaken by allegations of open discrimination by local staff.

Kenya Railways just explained the composition of the contract that condemns Kenyans to pay the Chinese company Sh1 billion a month to operate the new railway.

Yesterday, the Kenyan Railways Committee took charge of ongoing investigations into the charges of racism that rocked Chinese society behind the walls of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), a day when Kenyan staff requested to sign confidentiality agreements. Mombasa staff received letters from secret agreements last week

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Defending the salary

The Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Railways, Atanas Maina, stated that fuel and personnel costs were one of the largest expenditures, besides maintenance and utility costs .

"To calculate the costs, we calculated all the costs per item that were needed for fuels and lubricants for small amenities such as towels and toilet paper," Maina said.

He said other costs included safety, spare parts and daily operations. For example, running a fully loaded train requires eight liters of diesel per kilometer per 1,000 tonnes of freight. To cover the 472-kilometer distance between Nairobi and Mombasa, a locomotive would consume about 9,000 liters of fuel and an additional 4,000 liters of fuel, which he said would bring the rail fuel bill to about 900,000 shillings a day. . The circulation of the seven trains would therefore cost 6.3 million shillings a day.

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The staff remains the biggest cost element of the operation. "So far, we have 870 Chinese employees and 1624 Kenyans who work for the operator.Of among them, 110 are Chinese locomotive drivers while we have 94 badistants already trained and 120 who were interviewed and enlisted for training starting next week, after which they will become badistant drivers and eventually become full drivers.

"The increase in the number was made necessary by our plan to make more trains than originally planned," he said.

Operating Contract

Police officers working on the railway also receive compensation in addition to the salary paid by the taxpayer.

If all other costs are incurred, Maina said, CRBC would only be left with a margin of between 3 percent and 5 percent of the Sh1 billion bill a month to keep profit.

Maina said that to deal with the wildlife mbadacre in the hallway, the government was building a second electric fence to give the line another buffer zone and prevent breaches. The railroad currently has a fence, which has seen at least five buffaloes and two lions killed.

But it is the operating contract that continues to attract attention after insiders have said that their advice was ignored.

Insiders questioned the circumstances in which Kenya Railways was forced to sign the contract, which they said was biased in favor of the Chinese.

At Sh1 billion a month, Kenya pays more than Sh 30 million a day to the Chinese operator to drive and maintain the train.

In the first six months, the company received 6.2 billion shillings in two installments. The first tranche of Sh3.4 billion was paid on the date of execution of the contract, while the second tranche of 2.8 billion shillings was due at the end of the first half.

In addition to this, the government also granted an interest-free advance of Sh 3.5 billion to the CBRC before they start their operations.

This amount was used for the mobilization, purchase of spare parts and equipment for initial operation and maintenance as well as financial support.

"The money was used to buy spare parts and support the startup, since we did not have the transition phase but we went directly to operations," he said. Mr. Maina. This amount must be recovered from the operator within eight years.

Maina said the contract was divided into three parts – the transition phase, which required initial interventions from the operator to start operations.

The second phase was the startup, which started on June 1 to December 31 of last year, while the third was the steady state phase, which would last the five-year contract period.

Different Costs

The calculation of the cost of the stationary phase is divided into two sections. The first is the fixed cost calculated on the basis of the delivery of a minimum of two pairs of pbadenger trains and two pairs of freight trains – one for general freight and the other for containers, with tonnage raised above 1.5 million tonnes.

The second is the variable cost of performance beyond the fixed cost. These costs include the tonne of freight per kilometer, the container per kilometer, the ordinary pbadenger train and the special train.

To reach the breakeven point, the government is counting on an increase in clinker cargo at Athi River. Clinker is a major raw material in cement production and most cement manufacturers are based in Athi River.

"The clinker traffic will be an additional bonus for the railway and we plan to transport about 4 million tons a year via the railway," said Transport Minister James Macharia in an interview.

million. Macharia said the government is also working with the private sector to gain access to bulk grain transportation activities that would guarantee RMS another 5 million tonnes a year.

million. Macharia said the country had added one more train each month and that it should be 12 by the end of the year, which would correspond to the Mombasa-Nairobi road. With increasing frequency, the government hopes to have reached the breakeven point by the end of 2020.

The contract was also pbaded on the main costs of repairing Kenya's railways. The CBRC has been allowed to absorb up to 5 million shillings a year. The company must reimburse the operator for any amount exceeding 5 million shillings during a calendar year.

The CRBC was also required to obtain commercial liability insurance of at least 2 billion shillings, while Kenya Railways was to take the bulk of the insurance.

Kenya Railways had to obtain insurance against all the risks on the property, the machines as well as the breakdown. This should not be less than 150 billion shillings ($ 1.5 billion).