While Kenya is expected to fully operate the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) by 2025, there has been growing concern that China is executing a partial handover of the project.
Already, China has started handing over some of SGR operations including security to Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC).
Observers of the handover raised concerns that knowledge transfer remained partial so as not to give away too much information that could jeopardise future projects.
A Chinese corporation has been operating the SGR since its launch in 2017 and only started handing over some operations in 2022.
Apart from security, the company has also handed over ticketing, fuelling operations and cargo handling.
While China is handing over hard technology, there is a reluctance to hand over soft infrastructure which will ensure the sustainability of the project once fully handed to KRC.
Soft infrastructure revolves around management, maintenance and standard operating procedures as well as protocols.
“While training in operations and maintenance has been a dominant component, higher-level management, financial management and ticketing was not something I saw in the training programme,” an observer was quoted by South China Morning Post.
“So while there is technology transfer, it remains partial, and also reflects the interests of the contractor companies.”
The fear of transferring knowledge has been attributed to the fact that it is the contractor firms who have been given responsibility for the handover.
This is despite the fact that they are also engaged in multiple other projects including the extension of the SGR line to the Ugandan border.
The SGR was constructed through a loan from China at a cost of Ksh675 billion (USD5.08 billion).
