Photo: COWI, Jesper Skaarup

Social and environmental due diligence and relocation action plan, Kenya Railways Corporation, Kenya 

As part of the privatization process for Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), COWI undertook a detailed social and environmental due diligence of the company. The project also covered a comprehensive relocation action plan (RAP).

Due diligence

The social due diligence covered assessment and estimation of liabilities within the following areas:

  • employment contracts
  • social obligations
  • pension and retirement schemes
  • encroachment issues

- while the environmental due diligence covered all environmentally related activities such as fuelling contracts, marshalling yards and ship yards. In addition, assessments of occupational health conditions and safety precautions formed part of the due diligence.

Photo: COWI, Jesper Skaarup


Relocation action plan

The project also included a detailed outline of a relocation action plan for more than 3,000 squatters to be displaced in accordance with Kenyan and World Bank (WB) guidelines for involuntary resettlement.

The plan was developed through a detailed person-to-person characterisation, mapping and videoing of all individual project-affected-persons (PAPs).

The relocation action plan consisted of four main elements:

  • matrix of relocation impact
  • relocation entitlement matrix
  • consultation log
  • identification of microfinance institutions

In addition, a detailed study on eligible railway engineering solutions supporting an overall sustainable relocation action plan was carried out.

The relocation action plan and engineering solutions were priced in detail according to Kenyan Government and WB-approved entitlement compensatory pricing matrices and civil works pricing.