Africa-Press – Kenya. The Standard Gauge Railway raked in Sh15.2 billion in revenue in 2021, signalling that the mega project failed to break even five years into its inception.
This is despite the revenue being 12.59 per cent more than the Sh13.5 billion the SGR raised in 2020.
According to the Economic Survey 2022, freight services raised Sh13 billion while passenger revenue stood at Sh2.2 billion.
The revenue is not sufficient to meet the operational costs of the project, estimated at Sh1.5 billion a month or Sh18 billion a year.
SGR operates express passenger trains from Nairobi to Mombasa and an intercounty service with stops in Athi River, Emali, Kibwezi, Mtito Andei, Voi, Miasenyi, and Mariakani stations.
In 2018, the KNBS data indicated that SGR generated sales of Sh5.7 billion while charging promotional tariffs.
According to the survey, the passengers handled at the airports grew exponentially in 2021 compared to 2020 when the numbers dropped owing to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The survey indicates that whereas there were only 1,171,300 domestic arrivals in 2020, the number rose to 1,953,600 in 2021.
Domestic departures were 1,147,000 in 2020 but rose to 1,884,100 in 2021.
On the other hand, international arrivals shot up from 1,012,000 in 2020 to 1,316,600 in 2021 while international departures rose from 751,300 in 2020 to 1,360,000 in 2021.
Overall, road transport grew by 77.9 per cent, air transport (5.9%), water (2.5%), pipeline (1.2%) while postal and courier services grew by 8 per cent.
New motor vehicles and motorcycles registration in 2021
The 2022 KNBS survey shows that whereas the registration of pick-ups, mini buses and coaches dropped by -1.3 per cent and -13.6 per cent respectively, registration of new trailers was highest in 2021 (33.8%).
Motorcycle registration was second highest at 15.6 per cent, cars and station wagons (10.4%), tractors (10.7%), lorries and trucks (9.2%), while registration of three-wheelers, popularly known as tuk tuks was 7.7 per cent.
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