The Chinese contractor for the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project in Kenya said Saturday it is not part of the disputed land acquisition in the country's coast.

"CRBC is not part of land acquisition process and is supposed to enter upon the land area with handover document from NLC or KR. Coverage of some media against CRBC failing to compensate the land owners is groundless and ignorant of the land acquisition process of Kenya," the company said in a statement Saturday.

According to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the land acquisition for the SGR project falls under the obligation of its client, Kenya Railways Corporation (KR) and National Land Commission (NLC).

The Chinese contractor made the statement in response to a recent land dispute in Mombasa that had hampered the construction of the SGR project, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Kenya.

Residents of Maganda in Mombasa, claiming lack of payment for the acquisition of their land, challenged the construction of the project Thursday shortly after the Chinese contractor commenced the site clearance there to pave way for the construction of the SGR.

The local residents, together with top officials of Mombasa county, moved to the project site, trying to stop the contractor from proceeding with the construction. Some residents even attacked workers at the construction site, and the officials claimed no construction permits had been obtained for the mega- infrastructure project.

"Our site entry and construction were fully in accordance with instructions by the National Land Commission and Kenya Railways. There is no legal basis for the actions of Mombasa County Government according to the land act on compulsory acquisition for public purposes," CRBC said in the statement.

"Considering the chaos at site and to avoid escalation of the situation, we withdrew our personnel and equipment at site," it said, adding that one of its employees were injured.

CRBC appealed to relevant authorities in Mombasa to follow respective land laws in Kenya, and urged dissatisfied local land owners to seek the advice of land courts over the dispute.

"If any dispute arises from the process of land acquisition, land owners may turn to land courts for jurisdiction. The payment is to be held in a special account of NLC and will not be transferred to the land owner's until the dispute is resolved to the latter's consent," it said.

The 472km railway is expected to cut by half the time passengers take to travel from Mombasa to Nairobi from the current eight hours to about four and a half hours. Freight trains will reduce the time it takes to move cargo between the two cities to eight hours. Endi

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