China's vice minister of foreign affairs Zhang Ming has re-assured Kenyans that the engines used on the recently launched Standard Gauge Railway trains are not second hand.
He was speaking to journalists at a Nairobi hotel where he was questioned about the quality of the locomotives used to power the trains.
This comes after word went round that the locomotives had already been used in China before being exported to Kenya.
“Let me assure you that China never exports second-hand clothes; we never export second-hand cars and it is by no means possible for us to export second-hand locomotives,” he said through a translator.
He further stated that it was more economical for China to build new engines from scratch rather than refurbish old ones.
"For the Chinese, it makes more economic sense to build a new locomotive instead of using our energy and input to refurbish the old one, because refurbishing needs more energy than building a new one in China," he remarked.
The SGR project has drawn varied reactions from. various quarters, with some lauding the project as a landmark achievement while others consider it a ticking time bomb, considering it was acquired via a multi-billion loan.
Opposition Chief Raila Odinga stated that he acknowledged that the project would benefit Kenya in many ways but had an issue with the Sh327 Billion that was used for the first phase of the project between Nairobi and Mombasa.
He also claimed that it was a brainchild of the grand coalition government that he was part and the first cost projection was at Sh227 Billion, Sh100 Billion less than the current cost.
Kenyans will, however, wait for a while before the trains start full operations due to a few logistics and the fare from Nairobi to Mombasa will be Sh700.
