With a $1 Billion Payment Due, Kenyan MPs Call on Government to Renegotiate SGR Loan Deal with China

File image of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway that China financed and built as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Simon Mania/AFP

Kenya’s National Treasury is calling on the parliament to provide it with $940 million dollars for the latest instalment to repay China for the controversial Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

The Treasury’s request prompted new appeals from MPs for urgent talks with the Chinese to renegotiate the terms of the SGR’s multibillion-dollar loans. Parliamentarians contend that the call to restructure the loans is unrelated to the recent verdict by the Court of Appeals that ruled Kenya Railways’ contract with the Chinese state-owned enterprise that built the SGR to be illegal for not following relevant procurement laws. 

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by Eric Olander

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