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Residents assured of rehabilitation of excavated areas

The government has reassured residents in the four counties where the construction of the Sh30 billion Mau Mau Road is on-going that the contractor will be compelled to rehabilitate the excavated areas in conformity with existing environmental requirements.

The Central Regional Commissioner Wilfred Nyagwanga says areas where the contractor was sourcing the materials being used in the construction of the 540-kilometer road which traverses Kiambu, Murang’a, Nyeri and Nyandarua counties will be rehabilitated to ensure that they did not pose danger to local people.

The administrator allayed fears among local residents that the contractor would leave behind unfilled quarries and lose boulders that could later on endanger their lives.

And in a bid to speed up the construction of the road which has fallen behind schedule, the government has allowed the contractor to work round the clock to make up for the lost time.

Nyagwanga directed the County Development Implementation Coordination Committee (CDICC) to put in place mechanisms including providing the construction workers with the round the clock security in a bid to ensure that completion timelines are adhered to.

The highway will traverse the Aberdares Belt and adjacent areas. There will also be a link road to Njabini in Nyandarua County, and to Naivasha. There will be another link road from Kimende to Mai Mahiu, according to the Kenya National Highways Authority.

“The total length of roads to be developed under the programme is 540Km at an estimated cost of Sh30 billion, an average of about Sh55 million per kilometre. The construction of these roads will take approximately three years (36 months),” says the roads agency.

Nyagwanga said the road will open up the region and boost trade and transport adding that the government will ensure that the contractor operates for 24 hours without any interruptions.

He called on the contractor to recruit local people for the unskilled manpower requirements adding that such a gesture would go a long way in providing employment opportunities to local youths who lost their livelihood owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

By Kiamah Wamutitu

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