TITLE:
Tracks of Change?: Unpacking the Population, Migration and Crime Impacts of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway
AUTHORS:
Nancy Githaiga
KEYWORDS:
Kenya, Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), Migration Effects, Crime, Population Effects
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.10,
September
30,
2024
ABSTRACT: Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has been heralded as a transformative infrastructure project, designed to boost economic growth, enhance regional connectivity, and facilitate trade. Since its inauguration, the SGR has significantly reduced travel times and costs, linking Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa. However, the broader socio-economic impacts of this massive project, particularly on population distribution, migration patterns, and crime rates, remain underexplored. Using mixed research methods and sampling residents along the SGR route, this research sought to investigate the impacts of Kenya’s SGR on migration, population, and crime. The study revealed that the SGR construction has led to the migration of people to the areas along the SGR routes and towns, though the migration had a marginal effect on the population density of these areas; led to the displacement of people along the route to pave the way for the construction but with no significant impacts on crime rates along the route, at the stations, as well as areas surrounding the stations. These insights highlight the complex socio-economic consequences of large infrastructure projects, emphasizing the need for policies that address displacement and urban planning while ensuring security and stability.