Dear All,
This report of the recent meeting on the NNP railway proposal has just
come to me, and I am sure you are all interested in the state of
affairs,
Very best
Brian

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Fonnap Kenya <fonnap1@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:15:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FoNNaP Kenya] Summary of Public Meeting on the SGR Phase 2
held on 9th Dec 2015
To: Friends of Nairobi National Park Members - FoNNaP
<fonnapkenya@googlegroups.com>

Dear Member,

On 9th December 2015, members of the FoNNaP board attended a public meeting
on the planned routing of the the Standard Gauge Railway Phase 2 which runs
from Nairobi to Naivasha.  Please see below a summary of the information
shared during the meeting.

The meeting was was quite well attended despite the short notice - easily
over a hundred people. Stakeholders cutting across different interest
groups attended . This included other conservation-minded folk, but also
lots of property developers and land and home-owners, big and small from
both the Karen area and the Dagoretti area. There was some media presence
too. The notable conservation groups present were FoNNaP, Wildlifedirect,
Save the Elephants, AWF, ANAW, Born Free, and several members of the
Conservation Alliance of Kenya.

Given the diverse nature of the stakeholder groups present, it was not
surprising that the meeting was not just about the 'conservation agenda'
and there were lots of interesting viewpoints from these different
stakeholders. It is was interesting to note, though saddening somewhat,
that several small land/home owners in the Dagoretti area have already been
displaced once because of the Southern Bypass, and now may be displaced a
second time because of SGR.  Also, there were several people not from the
conservation group who voiced their concerns for the park (and the need to
balance development and conservation in general).

Generally speaking in terms of protected areas, Phase 2 of the SGR will
only potentially directly affect Nairobi National Park. On exiting Nairobi,
the railway will run north of Mt Suswa, South of Mt Longonot and North of
Hells Gate (though the railway will pass in front the main gate of Hells
Gate). Please see attached map. The scale of this infrastructure
development becomes readily apparent when you consider that around the
Longonot and Hells Gate area the railway will run on an elevated platform
supported by pillars 100m tall!