Residents of Ol Kalou town in Nyandarua County have called on the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) to move with speed and repair the Nyahururu – Gilgil road, citing a series of crashes in the recent past.
While decrying the poor state of the road, the residents noted the stretch that was characterized by huge potholes and lack of bumps had resulted to loss of lives as motorists tried to evade the potholes.
The occupants who joined hands to try erect bumps and fill potholes with soil around Ol Kalou town noted that concerned authorities had not heeded calls to improve the state of the killer road something that was worrying them.
“I have written to KeNHA through their regional office in Nyeri requesting for the immediate repair of the road but they have remained adamant to our calls.
“Yesterday we lost a man well known to us after a lorry that was evading a pothole lost control hitting him,” said Ol Kalou Ward Representative, Ken Mukira who joined hands in repairing the road.
Mukira decried poor workmanship by the contractor on road saying it is less than three years since the road was re-carpeted and its condition keeps deteriorating day by day.
“We have lost about 30 people well known to us in a span of one year to the road and calls for repairs have remained futile,” alleged James Ng’ang’a, an Ol Kalou-based businessman.
Late last year, four people of the same family perished at Kaptein area along the road as a car they were in swerved while avoiding a pothole, hitting an oncoming lorry.
KeNHA officials had earlier promised that the road would undergo emergency repairs in a bid to salvage its sorry state as a team of experts were deployed to study and redesign it.
They had assured the motorists plying the route that the emergency works slated for early this year will be a relief to the huge potholes that characterized the stretch.
The Central Region’s KeNHA representative, Judy Makuba said “We are into procurement of emergency works on the road for the second quarter of this year and once it is done, there will be a contractor on site.”
Ms. Makuba, assured a County Implementation Coordination and Coordination Committee (CDICC) sitting in Ol Kalau that the sorry state of the 37 km stretch will undergo a major overhaul once a team of experts studying the topology of its foundation come up with recommendations for its redesigned.
By Jesse Mwitwa
