Landowners whose land was hived to allow construction of Kenol-Marua road will be compensated from next week, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has said.
On Friday Macharia noted that the government has finalized plans to pay the land owners from Monday, June 7.
He said the funds for compensation are ready and his ministry is working with the National Land Commission (NLC) to ensure all those whose land was taken to create a way for the road to get their money.
“Funds to compensate the farmers are ready and from Monday will start paying the land owners. I lauded all those who gave out their land even before they were paid. This helped construction of the road to proceed without challenges,” said Macharia as he led engineers from his ministry and Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) to inspect progress of the road.
In Kirinyaga County, the CS said there are 650 land owners and in the neighboring Nyeri County, more than 900 farmers are waiting for compensation.
Macharia praised the contractors doing the dual carriage road saying they are ahead of the scheduled time saying by December this year, one side of the road will be complete.
“We are following up to ensure the road is completed as scheduled. Currently 12 per cent of the road is complete. The government, in partnership with African Development Bank, which is the financier, is committed to ensure there is no shortage of resources which may delay the works,” explained the CS.
The 84-Kilometre dual carriage road is divided into two lots, one starting from Kenol to Sagana which covers 48 kilometres and the other lot of 36 kilometres from Sagana to Marua. Each lot has been assigned a specific contractor.
Macharia said after doing one side of the road, the contractors will embark to upgrade the existing road to highway standard.
“By next year, the highway will be complete and local residents will enjoy easy movement, especially of agricultural produce. This region is highly populated and also rich in agriculture so the road is a key infrastructure that will boost the economy of this region.” Added Macharia.
The CS underscored the commitment of the government to develop various infrastructure in the country especially roads saying once the ongoing construction of roads will be complete, it will boost the economy of the country.
“The government is making sure no region is left behind in terms of road construction. So far, we have done 9, 500 kilometres of the road country wide. Our target is to meet 11,000 kilometres of road by mid next year. This is to fulfill what the Jubilee government promised.” Asserted the CS.
By Bernard Munyao
