Nairobi County Roads officials protest poor conditions

By JAMES MWANGI

Senior officials in the Roads department of Nairobi County government have voiced issues frustrating their operations.

The officers led by their Chief Officer Christine Ogut pointed out financial issues, staff capacity and conflicts as the challenges crippling developments of infrastructure in Nairobi.

“We are trying with limited resources. We can only pay contractors on time if we have resources. If there is no money what do we do then?” posed Ogut when she appeared before the County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC), yesterday.

Engineers under her said procurements, payments to contractors and internal expenses are riddled with bureaucratic procedures.

Nairobi with a road network of 2,977km has about 16.9 per cent of roads in good condition, 31 per cent in fair condition and 51.1 per cent in deplorable status. To address the status of these roads, Ogut said the department would require Sh224 billion. “For the repairs on the roads in good conditions we need Sh502 million, then Sh69.8 billion to rehabilitate the fair roads and about Sh154 billion to work on bad roads and construct new ones,” she said.

The team appeared before the PAC to respond to issues raised by the auditors regarding Sh166.7 million expended towards roads maintenance during the period between July 2012 and June 2013.

The auditors reported that out this allocation, Sh97.3 million was paid before the transition, Sh45.1 million paid during the transition and Sh24.3 million remained outstanding by end of June last year.

Conflicting roles

The team of auditors led by James Kamau raised the issues of multiple contracting to firms that have worked behind schedule. The County Engineer Stephen Mburu refuted the claims but the other engineers admitted that most contractors awarded the tenders are unqualified.

The committee led by Robert Mbatia was told there have been conflicts of responsibilities and communication in the sector.

Some senior engineers report to Ogut and at the same time to other officers, some who are specialists in accounting.

“There are many actors in the roads department. There should be a policy formed so that all matters of roads are co-ordinated by the county government,” observed Ogut.