Hours after the Madaraka Express snaked its way from Mombasa to Nairobi with President Uhuru Kenyatta aboard the maiden journey, bus owners are now up in arms over its launch.
According to Mombasa Raha and Buscar director Abubakar Said, the government failed to consult stakeholders in the transport sector when coming up with the Sh700 fare price tag.
Said claimed that bus owners were surprised when the President announced Sh700 as fare for the economy class, and not Sh900 as earlier suggested, in what could kill their businesses.
“The President should have considered us because we have invested heavily in the transport sector. It will really affect us, we will definitely run out of business,” lamented Said.
He claimed that the fare set by the President was unrealistic and political and had not put into consideration the investments they had heavily pumped in the transport sector.
His sentiments were also shared by Mash East Africa general manager Lenox Shallo who stated that the situation for the bus owners was a wait and see.
Shallo added that the SGR catered for its own type of clientele and the Sh700 fare would depend on the capacity of passengers it would absorb.
“It is a situation of wait and see. As passenger transporters, we cannot predict what will happen to us,” said Shallo.
President Kenyatta had on Wednesday announced that the one-way economy fare was Sh700, First class Sh3,000 and Sh50,000 to move a container by rail from Mombasa to Nairobi.
Kenyatta while launching the Sh327 billion project warned of grim consequences for saboteurs of the Chinese-funded milestone.
"God forgive me, but I will not hesitate to sign the death warrant of anyone found guilty of vandalising the SGR to sabotage our economy." warned Uhuru.
Read Also: Raila Agrees With Uhuru About SGR Project
