I was the Brain behind SGR Says ODM Presidential Aspirant Jimi Wanjigi
Businessman turned politician Jimi Wanjigi has revealed that he was the brains behind the Standard Gauge Railway which starts from Mombasa to Malaba.
Gathogo Wanjiru 
In an interview with Linus Kaikai on Sunday night, Wanjigi said SGR was initially supposed to cost Sh55 billion but said the figure skyrocketed to over Sh300 billion.
"What I recall of the project cost was something like Sh55 billion, from Mombasa to Malaba. After 2013, it came to my attention that it was now not a project worth Sh300 billion just from Mombasa to Nairobi. And I said this does not make sense to me. This is where we differed on policy," he said.
The country borrowed more than a Sh300billion from China to build the 472-kilometer railway from Mombasa to Nairobi.
It borrowed another $1.5 billion for a second branch from Nairobi to Naivasha.
Wanjigi said the Standard Gauge Railway which he birthed in 2008 with a company called China Road and Bridge was supposed to be a private railway not public.
"We birthed it, we spent a lot of money doing what you call feasibility studies and technical studies. The intention was to make it private nothing to do with the government. In fact, the government was only supposed to provide land for it which we were prepared to lease. It was like a real estate project," he said.
"It not only became about money it also was about government doing it. The intention was not to take taxpayer's money for this project."
He said the railway line was supposed to run from Mombasa to Malaba and not just to Nairobi.
"The Chinese had given money, I suggested it be re-allocated to roads. I am a businessman, I want to make money. The debt we have of the railway is phenomenal," he said.
The 480km line shortens the passenger travel time from Mombasa to Nairobi from more than 10 hours to a little more than four hours.
