China's Imperialist Designs Suffer Big Blow As Kenyan Court Declares $3.2 Billion OBOR Contract Illegal

China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative which has been dubbed as an imperialistic project [1][2] by many, has suffered a blow in Kenya after a appellate court declared a $3.2 billion railways contract awarded to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to be illegal, ANI has reported.

The court while reviewing a High Court ruling said that state-run Kenya Railways violated the country's law in procuring the $3.2 billion Chinese funded Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project which falls under its Belt Road Initiative.

The project which was awarded in 2014 was opposed by activists who alleged that it was not subjected to a fair, competitive and transparent procurement process.

Under this project the Exim Bank of China sanctioned two loans of $1.6 billion each for the construction of a railway line from Mombassa to Nairobi which was later extended to Naivasha.

After a large section of the route was operationalised in 2017, Africa Star Railway Operation Company which is a subsidiary of Chinese CRBC, was awarded the contract to manage operations. The state-run Kenyan railways currently owes $380 million to Africa Star Railway in management fees.