KURA calls for regulations of road project rates

Kura acting Director-General Silas Kinoti

Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) has called for laws to regulate pricing of road projects.

Kura acting Director-General Silas Kinoti told The Standard such regulations would lead to reduction in cost overruns. 

Mr Kinoti said contractors set budgets too high, making the projects costly. Others, he said, underestimate the cost of the work, leading to stalling of some projects.

“The cost of road projects has reduced due to stiff competition from foreign and local contractors, but this may not hold for long, as market dynamics keep changing,” said Kinoti.

“Regulated rates will enable the public to get value for money," he added. Kinoti spoke while receiving a delegation from Zambia Road Development Agency, who are on a fact-finding mission on cost reduction measures in construction and maintenance of roads.

The delegation will head to Meru and Embu to study the efficacy and effectiveness of the road projects undertaken through the probate technology fronted by Malaysian companies.

Last month the Transport ministry said it preferred a private-public partnership for construction of the planned Nairobi-Mombasa expressway, whose cost is estimated at Sh380 billion, against the wishes of the contractor.