President's Delivery Unit put contractor to Task in Migori

Migori County Commissioner Joseph Rotich flanked by Presidential Delivery Unit Director Mr. Melkizedek Onguso (Left) and address the press in Migori county on 21st March 2019 (Photo by Caleb Kingwara/Standard)

A contractor working on a Sh1.1 billion road has been put to task over the delay in completion of the project.

Pepeta Holdings Company Ltd now risks losing the contract if it fails to complete the 25km Motemorabu-Suba-Kuria-Nyangoge-Nyankore-Getonganya-Masaba road, whose work started in 2017, yet only 26 per cent of the road has been completed.

On Tuesday, officials from the President's Delivery Unit led by the director,  Melkizedek Onguso and county officials led by County Commissioner Joseph Rotich, inspected the road even as the company's Operations Manager Omar Noor put up a spirited defence over the delay.

The officers told Mr Noor that the project must be completed by May this year as earlier scheduled.

Mr Rotich said it is unfortunate that since work began in 2017, only 5 kilometres has been done.

“If you have only done this small work in 20 months what guarantee can you give this committee that you can finish the work within the remaining two months?” he posed.

Noor was at pains to explain why the project was behind schedule, blaming political violence during and after the 2017 General Elections for the disruption of work.

"In 2017 we had a challenge following the post-election violence, we had frequent disruptions but we promise to complete the project on time," he said.

Rotich who chairs the local County Development Implementation Coordinating Committee (CDICC), recommend a severe punishment for the contractor should he fail to beat the deadline.

“The whole work was supposed to take two years as per the contract signed between the company and the client - the Kenya Roads Authority(Kera),” he said.

The national government is currently engaged in upgrading of existing roads to bitumen standards in the region to the tune of about Sh6 billion.