The National Government will build a 20 kilometre murram road connecting Pandanguo to the Lamu-Witu-Garsen road with the aim of improving infrastructure and security to Boni.
Speaking during a tour of Witu area, Lamu County Commissioner, Irungu Macharia, revealed that the National Government had already set aside Sh10 million to facilitate bush clearing and murraming of the Witu-Pandanguo road in a bid to bolster security in the area.
Pandanguo area has in the past been declared an insecurity hotspot with the KDF having killed at least 10 suspected Al-Shabaab militants in 2018 in the area and a multi-agency security team successfully repulsing an insurgent attack in January 2020.
“The National Government has decided to murram the Pandanguo road not only to improve security but also improve accessibility to the Boni area,” Macharia stated revealing that so far the contractor has managed to clear 7 kilometres of road leading to Pandanguo from the Lamu-Witu Garsen Road.
He further said that the rehabilitation of the Witu-Pandanguo road will also open up the area, which has been perceived as marginalised for years despite the Boni area’s potential for farming and trade.
“Once this road is complete, the County Government has every reason to contemplate setting up a market in the Pandanguo area considering the potential in the locality that hosts police and KDF camps nearby,” he added.
Macharia pointed out that the National Government was also in the process of ensuring that the Witu Pandanguo road links with Lamu-Bodhei-Ijara-Garissa road in a bid to ensure that all security roads within the Boni area are interconnected.
“By interconnecting all the security roads within the wide Lamu Boni area, the National Government is putting action to its goodwill of ensuring that the county is secured ahead of the full operationalisation of the Lamu Port,” the County Commissioner stated.
The National Government through Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has also set aside Sh17.9 billion to construct a major highway linking Garissa and the coastal city of Lamu.
The road will comprise 257 km Lamu-Ijara-Garissa and a 113 km Hindi-Bodhei-Basuba to Kiunga section and 83 km of Ijara-Sangula to Hulugo section.
Expectations are that the 113 Km road will be interconnected with the Witu-Pandanguo road eventually to ensure that the security roads enable access to the wider Lamu Boni area.
The 453 kilometre project will be implemented at a cost of Sh17.9 billion, and will take 36 months to construct according to KENHA.
“The Witu-Pandanguo road is a security road that the government will be looking at increasing more funding to ensure that it is up to standard with the other two security roads being built,” Macharia said.
He further revealed that the contract period for the Witu-Pandanguo road is three months and urged the contractor to increase the machinery in a bid to speed up the bush clearing and murraming of the road.
The administrator reiterated that the security agents had promised to secure the contractor’s machines as the road is being worked on
Kenya Rural Roads Authority Roads Officer, Leonard Ouma, further stated that the authority will make use of the funds provided to improve the Witu-Pandanguo road, adding that the National Government was in the process of reaching a consensus with the county governments to enable the use of Equalisation Funds.
Lamu County is expected to get Sh40 million added to each county’s NG- CDF kitty that will mostly be used to improve road infrastructure around previously marginalised areas.
“So far the contractor is on course to complete the road on time, however we expect more funds to ensure that the road is brought up to standard of a proper security road,” Ouma said.
By Amenya Ochieng
