By EDWIN MAKICHE

KENYA: The Kenya Roads Board (KRB) will restructure its operations and devolve part of its mandate to county governments, board Chairman Joel Wanyoike has said.

He said construction and maintenance of class D and E roads would now be the mandate of the counties. He said Kenya Rural roads authority (KeRRA) and Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) which are the board’s implementing agencies, would work with the respective county heads in designing plans for the construction and repair of roads.

He spoke in Bomet when the board visited Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto. Engineer Wanyoike led a team inspecting the road network in the South Rift and Nyanza regions.

He said with the new dispensation, there was need to consult Governors on key priority areas.

The board decried that lengthy tendering and procurement processes have frustrated efforts to repair roads.

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He said consultations were ongoing on the formation of fully equipped Rapid Response Units in each county to address such cases without involving external contractors.

The roads board, charged with maintenance of roads has an annual budget of Sh24 billion drawn from the fuel levy fund and shares it among Kenya Nation Highways authority, KeRRA, KURA and Kenya Wildlife Service which are its implementing agencies.

The board manages the 160,886 kilometres of roads of which 61,652 km is classified while 98,950 remain unclassified. Board CEO Francis Nyangaga called for restructure of funds disbursement in line of the new dispensation to ensure every county received equitable share of the fund.

He said the allocation would be based on the number of constituencies under each devolved government.