Twitter is on fire after Transport PS Esther Koimett posted photos of the old trains that the government has bought from train in a multi-billion shilling deal.
Koimett shared the photos after media reports indicated her ministry had made a deal to purchase reconditioned Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) – some said to be as old as 25 years.
“These are the actual DMUs we are getting. Cost for the 11 DMUs is Ksh 1.5 billion NOT Ksh 10 billion. They should serve us for another 20 – 25 years. When the full complement is in they’ll enable us to transport around 132,000 people a day compared to the 13,000 we do today” she wrote.
The Nation initially reported that the deal would cost taxpayers an approximated Sh10 billion including purchase and servicing the old trains.
However, Koimett downplayed the figure saying the 11 reconditioned trains would be bought at Sh1.5 billion, meaning each train will cost about Sh135 million.
The trains are being bought from a train operator in Barcelona who has upgraded to an electric infrastructure.
Here are some of the comments,
Look at the bright side, we might just add the white elephant to the Big 5 together with the black panther, white giraffes etc and magical Kenya wins 🤣😂🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♂️— Mswahili Bandia (@MswahiliBandia) 5 March 2019
But why this obsession with obsolete technologies which are expensive in the long run? Is it a case of lack of ambition and creativity or simply lazy thinking?!— Sammy Cheboi (@Cheboiksam) 5 March 2019
You can also get this 👇 cheaply from Russia and USA pic.twitter.com/gAaEbbTq1C— Jusper Mogire (@mogire_jusper) 5 March 2019
Look at the bright side, we might just add the white elephant to the Big 5 together with the black panther, white giraffes etc and magical Kenya wins 🤣😂🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♂️— Mswahili Bandia (@MswahiliBandia) 5 March 2019