Why Laikipia, Nyandarua want to eliminate private road contractors

Laikipia, Nyandarua and counties have embarked on a journey to elbow out private contractors from building and fixing roads in the region.

In Laikipia, the county administration has engaged the National Youth Service (NYS) to repair roads.

The NYS machinery have been opening up roads in rural areas of the vast Laikipia North constituency after the county signed a partnership with the service.

According to Roads and Infrastructure Executive, Joseph Shuel, the county government is planning to upgrade about 42km to all-weather roads in the marginalised Laikipia North constituency.

“The Laikipia North terrain is treacherous and we had to seek the services of a contractor with advanced machinery. That is how we arrived at the decision to engage the National Youth Service since it has the capacity,” said Mr Shuel.

He said the targeted roads include the one linking Doldol town with Seki town in Isiolo county and another one that will link Laikipia East sub county with the Laikipia North sub county.

The CEC said the deal with NYS will save the county close to Sh24 million on the 40km targeted this financial year.

“NYS will deliver quality road works with a big price advantage over ordinary contracting. The average difference in cost per kilometer is Sh600,000,” he added.

The administration will also roll out labour-based civil works roads construction programme to mend roads across the county.

Road construction machinery

“The programme is a deliberate effort to keep our youth employed, put money in their pockets and let them be in a position to secure their livelihoods. This is a pilot programme that we expect to roll out across all the wards in the incoming financial year,” Governor Ndiritu Muriithi said.

“The labour-based civil works have proved to be successful in the industrial area cluster in Nyahururu town and is doing well.”

Meanwhile, the administration of the neighbouring Nyandarua county has already procured its road-building machinery to hasten improvement of roads in the county.

The road construction machinery worth Sh500 million has since been allocated to ward clusters to speed up the grading of roads across the county.

The equipment, which include graders, tippers, Lorries, excavators, rollers, low loaders, fuel trucks and pick-ups, have already been distributed in the 25 wards in the county where work is ongoing.

Governor Francis Kimemia said all the county's 25 wards have been clustered into five construction units, with the units having their headquarters in Njabini, Ndunyu Njeru, Ol Kalou, Mirangine and Ndaragwa towns.

“Each unit has already received an excavator, a grader, a pick-up truck, three tippers, a roller, a fuel tanker and a low loader. The machinery operate under a five-ward cluster, each with a holding yard, backed by a modern and real-time fleet management and control system deployed to ensure accountability and value for money,” he said.

The move by the two counties has caused anxiety among private contractors from the region.

The Nyandarua county chairperson for private contractors, Gachagua Wanjohi has said that they have held several meetings with Governor Kimemia who has assured them that they would still get contracts in the county.

“During our many meetings with the governor, he assured us that our work is still there but a clever person does not need an elaborate explanation,” lamented Mr Wanjohi.