Fifty youths have been trained on road maintenance using the Do-Nou technology in Elgeyo Marakwet County to enable them start construction companies and access road maintenance tenders in the county.
The Community Road Empowerment Coordinator Amos Biwott, said that the selected youths had been successfully trained on the technology from Japan which involves the use of murram mixed with ballast inside gunny bags on maintenance of roads.
He said the technology was used to improve the Kapyego-Kamelei road which connects Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot counties which was funded by the United Nations Development (UNDP) at a cost of Sh24 million.
Biwott who was addressing the press during the closing and award ceremony for the program, said that the road took only two months to complete.
The project, Biwott said, was meant to build the capacity of unemployed youths to acquire skills to improve their livelihood by providing them with opportunities to start construction companies and access tenders from the county government.
“The road is expected to improve access between the two counties and boost cohesiveness between the Marakwet and Pokot communities,” he said.
The County Executive Committee member for Roads, Transport and Public Works Kevin Biwott said the road was a boost to transport and ease access to hospitals in the area.
“We have also managed to take 4 out of the 50 youths through training in Kisii Training Centre (KTC) where they were trained on the Roads 2000 strategy including the Do-Nou road technology,” Kevin said.
The CEC said the 50 youths were empowered by the program and have been able to register a construction company called BitCam which will enable them access special tenders for maintenance of access roads in the county.
Biwott noted that the Do-Nou road technology had initially been used in some of the county roads and had proved to be effective with durability of up to 20 years.
While noting the importance of the training to the youth, the county executive said that there is a success story in the project where the county boasts of having a youth who is now a bigtime contractor in the county.
He urged residents to allocate money during public participation to some of the access roads and give tenders to the youths who have been trained on how to improve the roads using Do-Nou technology.
Titus Sigoria, a youth from Kapyego Ward, who is a beneficiary of the program, says that the training equipped them with skills including the tendering process and coming up with bill of quantities (BQ).
Sigoria urged youths to be engaged in activities that will enable them to employ themselves and to acquire tenders as local contractors in their respective counties.
By Walter Kibet
