Nyandarua County will soon enjoy the services of more tarmac roads as the government pumps in about Sh.10 billion for road construction and maintenance.
The Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) Central Regional Engineer, Willy Mburu, has confirmed that about 250km of tarmac had already been awarded with various contractors on site to open up the agriculturally rich county.
Ndaragwa Constituency, that only enjoyed 20km of tarmac in addition to the Nyahururu- Nyeri Highway that traverses it, is the biggest beneficiary of the new contracts with 105km of its roads already awarded for tarmacking.
“Upgrading to Bitumen standards and performance-based routine maintenance of 55km Ndaragwa-Maili Kumi/ Ndaragwa-Kanyagia-Subuku/Ndaragwa Ngamini-Uruko roads, including Karagoine-Wakahot centre-Leshau Boys School-Pesi- Kilimanjaro to Shamata roads has commenced at a cost Sh. 2.037 billion.
“The same contractor China Railway No.10 Engineering Group, will also undertake the tarmacking of 50km Maili Kumi-Subuku-Sipala-Shamata-Kariamu including Shamata township roads and Mairo Inya-Shauri-Salama roads, to be completed in April 2023,” added Eng. Mburu, noting that Shs.1.7 billion will be spent on the project.
Captain-Wanjohi-Ndunyu Njeru road that had stalled since its award in 2018 after the contractor SBI international abandoned the project, has since received a new assignee, with Eng. Mburu confirming that he was being evaluated to undertake the works.
“The contractor undertaking the tarmacking of the 23km Gilgil-Machinery road that will connect Gilgil town to Ol Kalau- Njambini road at Machinery centre, is yet to start as he sites delays by the Treasury to exempt duty on plants equipment and materials that he hopes to import for the works,” added the Engineer.
The Nyandarua County Commissioner (CC), Boaz Cherutich who doubles as the chair to the County Development Implementation and Coordination Committee (CDICC), has regretted the slow mobilization on the roads saying the residents were suffering especially during the rains that characterized the region.
“I appeal to contractors to hasten the construction of the road networks so that the residents can benefit from these projects by the national government,” said Cherutich, adding that the Roliongo Kagaa- Kaptain loop as well as the Tumaini-Kanyariri roads, were near completion to the satisfaction of the CDICC.
The Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA) has also contracted maintenance works on Ndundori-Njambini road with the replacement of a collapsed bridge at Kariamu underway at a cost of Shs.55 million.
“The rehabilitation of the 37km Gilgil-Ol Kalou is underway and the contractor is expected to complete the works in 36 months. The Ol Kalou-Nyahururu stretch has been re-tendered and the contractor will move on site once approved and handed over the road,” confirmed Eng. Newton Itobi.
The CDICC sitting in Ol Kalou on Monday, also heard that Nyandarua county has in addition received Shs.156m through the Fuel Levy Funds for the year 2019/2020, to be equally distributed among its five constituencies in road maintenance works.
By Anne Sabuni
