Kisumu county to spend Sh600 million on construction of roads

A cyclist on a muddy section of Kibuye market road in Kisumu. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

The county will spend Sh600 million to build new roads and repair old ones in the 2018-19 financial year, documents from the county roads department reveal.

Of this amount, Sh194 million will come from the Kenya Roads Board (KRB), while Sh406m is an allocation to the roads department in the county budget estimates.

According to Thomas Ondijo, the County Executive for Roads, Sh42 million will be used to procure new construction equipment while Sh60 million will be used to pay community roads maintenance teams.

These teams are drawn from villages in the county and provide labour. The village teams were created through a vote in the county assembly.

In the 2017-18 financial year, Sh35 million was used to buy equipment.

Mr Ondijo said construction of new roads and repair of old ones will stimulate investment and promote trade through improved access to markets.

A work plan from the roads docket shows that at least 35 wards will be covered as improvements in the road network begins.

Ondijo said emphasis will be made on wards that are prone to floods. He said that of importance will also be the tarmacking of key link roads under the county’s mandate to spur socio-economic growth and attract investments.

 “Our engineers are surveying both the county funded roads and those funded by KRB. In two weeks, we expect to start construction,” Ombija said.

In an interview, Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o said plans to improve roads going through two or more sub-counties, and leading to key amenities such as markets, schools or hospitals to bitumen standards, is also in line with efforts to cut back on costs incurred to keep maintaining such roads.

Ondijo warned that the county would not hesitate to recall and terminate contracts of  developers doing shoddy job.

“We are going to be very strict on supervision because we are spending a lot of money on these roads. Those who will not adhere to the provisions of the contract will have their performance bonds cancelled and will be blacklisted,” Odijo said.