Maai Mahiu town is a hothouse of commerce. Bus parks burst with people heading to various destinations. Boda boda operators tear across the dusty streets, ferrying passengers from one part of the town to the other. Others hunch over their motorbikes, waiting for clients in the hot sun. Cart pullers carry groceries from an open air market at the centre of the town to the numerous hotels and restaurants that dot the town.
Trucks are the most predominant feature here. They are everywhere. Every few minutes, a heavy truck trudges across the town at a snail’s speed. Others are parked by the roadside while their drivers are probably resting after long-haul drives.
Peter Kiania, a businessman who has lived here for the past 32 years remembers seeing this town grow from a small trading centre to the teeming metropolis it is today.
“When I came here in 1984, there were only a few kiosks. No permanent buildings. Truck drivers used to sleep in those small kiosks.”
An increase in the number of trucks plying this route and the need for a stopover for drivers and their assistants gradually spurred the growth of this town. The kiosks were replaced by small lodges which have developed into hotels. Banks are in every street, a sign that there’s a strong cash flow in the town. Restaurants, lodges and entertainment joints are the major businesses here. Travellers, mostly truck drivers, make a stopover at the town and have become the backbone of its economy.
This town, and others that depend on long-distance trucks, are however facing a bleak future as Kenya moves towards improved railway transport.
A section of phase 1 of SGR line from Emali to Sultan Hamud along the Mombasa highway.
An environmental and social impact report on the standard gauge railway reveals that such towns will experience economic downfall once railway operations kick off. The railway, which is under construction, will handle both passengers and cargo, and this will dramatically reduce the number of long-distance trucks plying the Mombasa-Nairobi-Malaba highway in the long-term.
Towns along this transport corridor which act as stop-overs for long distance trucks, face economic decline once this happens. Business enterprises such as hotels, restaurants, lodgings and garages that are vibrant in these towns because of the long distance trucks are likely to collapse, the report says. People whose livelihoods depend on long distance trucks, such as drivers, turn-boys, truck owners, sex workers and vendors might need to change occupations or relocate to other towns.
More than 50,000 drivers and turn boys might lose their jobs, as well as workers in related businesses like mechanics and oil recyclers. Truck owners are also likely to experience loss of business. The report suggests that Kenya Railways should enable truck owners to buy cargo trains or become shareholders in the railway transport business so that they are not pushed out of business completely.
The railway is expected to be fully operational by 2018. The first phase of the project, from Mombasa to Nairobi is nearly complete and is expected to start operations in June 2017.
Business people in Maai Mahiu say they are strategising to avoid being thrown out of business once the trucks leave.
Martin Macharia, the manager of Esidai Hotel, a new establishment in the town, says they might convert the hotel’s rooms into shops.
The hotel has about 20 rooms and charges Sh500 per night. The rooms are fully booked on most days and most of the clients are truck drivers and turn boys. Macharia says he doesn’t see how the lodging business will survive without his main clients.
“We are yet to know for sure what to do,” Macharia says. “We might decide to do away with the rooms and keep the restaurant because passenger vehicles will continue plying this route. We might also divest into livestock trade which is popular here.”
Macharia says the collapse of the hotel business in the town might affect all other small businesses that latch onto it, such as grocery stores, milk vendors and fresh produce suppliers.
Kiania, who owns two restaurants in the town, says he might venture into sand harvesting when his businesses collapse.
“This is something we never anticipated. We do not know where to go. We have built our lives here, our children have grown up here and they don’t know any other home. We’ll have to find other business to do,” Kiania says.
Peter Kiarie, a pastor in the town holds onto hope that a passenger station under construction outside the town will create employment and make up for the jobs lost in the town. Maai Mahiu town might also evolve into a residential area for railway workers, he says.
An aerial view of a section of Malaba town, a busy hub for long distance trucks.
Some economists however downplay these negative effects of the railway, saying they are nothing compared to the economic growth the SGR is likely to generate.
“I suspect the SGR will be a bigger catalyst for economic activity along its path than the Mombasa-Nairobi [railway] ever was,” says Aly-Khan Satchu, the CEO of Rich Management, an investment advisory firm. “Some towns might lose out but overall, the railway will prove to be an economic force multiplier.”
Satchu says the standard gauge railway is meant to cement Kenya’s position as the gateway to East Africa and will spur manufacturing of products for the global market.
The old railway is credited for creating towns along its path. Nairobi, for example, started as a railway depot while Kisumu was a railways terminus. Economists see the SGR spurring growth of new towns along its path.
The railway’s economic benefits are seen to outweigh the losses. The SGR is expected to improve the transport system in the country and the East African region, reducing road congestion, number of accidents and road maintenance costs.
It is expected to enhance the volume of goods handled at the port of Mombasa, thus boosting intra-country and regional trade. It is predicted that upon the completion of the project, the cargo handling capacity at Mombasa port will almost double to 44 million tonnes per year.
The standard gauge railway is also expected to generate employment opportunities for both skilled and semi-skilled workers in several areas, from construction to maintenance and operations.
HIV prevalence is also expected to reduce once long-distance trucks business comes to a close, according to the ESIA report. The rate of HIV among long-distance truck drivers is as high as 27 per cent, more than four times that of the general population.
Because of being frequently on the move and away from their families for long periods, truck drivers are constantly exposed to HIV and spread it along their routes and to their partners at home. Commercial and casual sex is available at truck stops, border crossing points and major transportation hubs.
With the growth of the railway transport, this trend is likely to stop, the report says.