The Completion of the 300 kilometres road network that the government was undertaking in Kirinyaga County, will ease transportation of horticultural and food produce to various markets.
The County Commissioner (CC), Jim Njoka speaking at Kerugoya during a service delivery meeting said this year alone, the government will spend over Sh2 billion in the road improvement projects.
Njoka said the government has also provided over Sh.1.2 billion to go towards sewerage and water project for Kerugoya and Kutus town.
Under the road improvement project, the county commissioner said the 14.7 kilometer road between Kerugoya and Old Kangaita was under construction at a cost of Sh396, 410,875.60
Other roads earmarked for improvement include those connecting Kianyaga to Muchagara, Muchagara- Kamugunda and Mutithi- Kirwara- Makutano.
He said all the roads under focus will improve access to the agricultural rich areas, while serving several public primary and secondary schools.
“On a positive note, labour based projects have offered numerous employment opportunities to residents of the area,” Njoka said.
The CC said some of the roads already completed have led to easy access of major towns within the rural economy. “The project has also reflected increase in land value,” he said.
At the same time, Njoka said construction of Kutus–Kianyaga-Githure–Kiamutugu road, a stretch of 30 kilometres is on course, costing the government close to sh.1.6 billion.
The project lies under the road 10,000 programme low volume seal roads and is being implemented through the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA).
The county commissioner said the corporate image for the government is development as evidenced by many other projects under implementation.
In 2013 Kirinyaga County had only 28,000 households connected to the national grid since the colonial times.
“However, currently 85,000 households in this county have been connected to power, while Sh.900 million has been set aside during this financial year to supply electricity to an extra 20,000 residents,” Njoka said.
He said sh.19 billion Thiba dam which is at 26 percent completion will improve food security by enabling rice farmers to engage in farming throughout the year.
“We anticipate the dam will be complete and operational by 2021 so that water shortage among farmers in Mwea area will be a thing of the past,” added Njoka.
By Irungu Mwangi
