The SGR) is a 480 km-long line that connects the port city of Mombasa with the capital city of Nairobi, replacing the colonial metre gauge railway. Construction began in 2013, and the initial segment was completed in 2017 at a cost of approximately USD$3.8 billion. An additional USD$1.5 billion extension to the tourist hub of Naivasha was completed in 2019. While the railway operates passenger services, its primary raison d’être is to improve freight transportation to and from the Port of Mombasa. It is planned as the first step toward an East African regional SGR network, reaching the Ugandan border, its capital city of Kampala, and Rwanda’s capital of Kigali—with branches extending to South Sudan’s capital of Juba
Cleaners
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Cleaning workers in Kenya earn between kes15,000 and kes18,000 per month. The amount is established by CRBC, which will operate and maintain the equipment and train tracks for a ten-year period under a contract signed in June 2017. Chinese workers in the same cadre get kes2,000 per day, or kes60,000 per month.
Freight Inspectors and Technicians
Freight technicians and inspectors are not paid any better than lower-level staff. Kenyans in these cadres are paid kes37,000 per month, according to the same publication, while their Chinese counterparts are paid kes148,000. “Despite more than a year working in the field, we are still referred to as trainees,” a worker told the publication. The Chinese with whom we work in the same role require only two weeks of the same training to achieve expert status.”
Welders
This group is paid kshs84 per hour, or kes16,128 per week, assuming they work six days a week. “Your salary will be paid monthly on the basis of Sh84 per hour,” according to the contract. Your supervisor will explain the corporate policies regarding holidays, vacations, time off, and other associated benefits. Salary and perks are subject to change without affecting other aspects of your employment.”
Construction employees
More many once, workers building the SGR have staged protests to demand greater wages. Machine operators earn sh650 per day, while drivers and casual laborers earn kes650 and kes400 per day.
SGR Stewardesses and stewards
These employees are paid around kes30,000 per month.
Train drivers
Kenyan locomotive drivers, who number in the hundreds, are paid far less than Chinese cleaners. The Nairobian reports that Chinese cleaners are paid two to three times as much as Kenyan drivers. A fast calculation yields a salary of kes49,000 for the lowest and kes74,000 for the highest. Kenyan train drivers have been relegated to spectators since they are not permitted near the Chinese-configured controls.
The most crucial question is if the same treatment be meted to Chinese citizens in China