New roads, bridges change face of Lodwar

For three decades, Lodwar, off highway A1 that links Kenya and South Sudan, saw slow economic growth as a result of neglect by successive regimes.

Built in the 1970s by founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s administration, the road, especially the stretch from Kapenguria to Lodwar, had gaping potholes and disappearing tarmac.

For motorists and businesses, this meant high vehicle maintenance costs, high prices for commodities like food, drinks, fuel and construction materials, which generally translated to a high cost of living for residents.

But that has been changing over the past few years, and Lodwar is now experiencing massive changes in its infrastructure.

The transformation began in 2014 when the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) gave the town its first ever tarmac road. It branches off highway A1 and the agency spent Sh168 million to lay out 3.2 kilometres.

Seeing the impact of the Kura project, the Turkana County government spent Sh350 million to extend the road by six more kilometres.

Cumulatively, the tarmac road has boosted the growth of businesses in the town, and other projects in the region by the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) will facilitate its economic and social transformation by providing solutions to the existing infrastructural challenges.

The ongoing Sh38 billion rehabilitation of the South Sudan link road by the national government and the World Bank – called the Eastern Africa Regional Transport, Trade and Development Facilitation Project – has made Lodwar more accessible by road.

Key bridges

Two critical bridges on the rivers Turkwel and Kawalase in the town that are about two and a half kilometres apart are some of the key infrastructure projects on the 338km road scheme that links several towns all the way from Lodwar to Isebania in Migori County, part of the Juba Transport Corridor of the East African Community’s Regional Trunk Road Network.

Lodwar’s central business district sits between the new bridges that have lanes for traffic in each direction as one connects to other towns like Kitale, Kapenguria, Lokichar, Kakuma and Lokichogio, which is 30kms from the Kenya-South Sudan border.

The Kawalase Bridge will be a relief for motorists because the 100-metre-wide river would sweep away vehicles whenever it flooded the Lodwar-Kakuma road.

John Ekalale recounted an incident last year when the driver of a double-cabin vehicle miscalculated the volume and intensity of the water and tried to cross.

“As the driver, who was heading towards Lodwar from Kawalase tried to cross the flooded river, the vehicle was swept away but local divers rescued him,” he said.

The most affected travellers were those heading from Kitale to Lokichogio via Lodwar. They would usually spend the night in Lodwar to await the floods to subside.

Sammy Indimuli, a civil servant, said whenever the river flooded during their officials visits to Lokitaung in Turkana North sub-county, they would spend the night in the cold though his home is just two kilometres from the town.

The town would also witness a shortage of fish, he said, as vehicles and motorcycles would not transport fish from Kalokol on Lake Turkana. Besides delays, traders dealing in fresh fish would suffer losses.

“At the moment, we are happy the contractors first of all constructed bridges on all seasonal rivers to ensure transport services are not interrupted during rainy season,” he said.

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Big budget

In the Lodwar town centre the building of an expressway is underway, along with a flyover for pedestrians at Lodwar County and Referral Hospital and two major roundabouts at Lodwar GK Prison and the Roberts Junction.

Near the Kawalase Bridge, there is ongoing construction of a modern bus park.

After Turkana leaders in October last year endorsed Sh.2.8 billion in social infrastructural projects by Kenha, some of the projects seek to enhance the road project in Lodwar.

Under a deal, the county government and the roads agency agreed to waive levies and fees charged on locally sourced construction materials amounting to Sh1 billion in return for well-funded social projects, meaning construction of the road has not been interrupted.

Peter Lokol, who has transported fish from Kalokol through Lodwar to Busia since 2007, said that when the road was in a deplorable state, it took him four days to reach Kitale, a distance of 357km, with a truck loaded with four tonnes dried fish.

“It could even take me more than a week if the seasonal Kawalase river in Lodwar that had no bridge flooded, as I had to wait for the water levels to subside even if it takes two days,” he recalled.

For a loaded truck, he said, one must drive with caution and deal with potholes one at a time or the vehicle would overturn.

At the same time, the discovery of oil in 2012 by Tullow Oil and the adoption of the devolved system of government opened up the once marginalised county, resulting in more business opportunities as evident in the growth of the middle class.

The transport sector was revitalised with many people owning vehicles.

The introduction of shuttle vehicles increased traffic in Lodwar and on the Lodwar-Kitale highway.

The 100-metre-long Turkwel Bridge over the permanent river Turkwel in Lodwar that was built to accommodate only one vehicle at a time had locals yearning for its expansion due to high traffic on mornings and evenings, as well as during major events and rallies.

“It has been a one-lane bridge where vehicles travelling in one direction have to give way to vehicles going in the other direction,” Mr Lokol said.

Business opportunities

Rural-to-urban migration increased the population of the town, making boda boda and taxi businesses a worthy venture for many young people.

James Epuyo said that in 2019, there was an increase in accidents involving motorcycles and vehicles between Robert Junction and the Lodwar GK Prison roundabout.

“A sharp bend near the Lodwar Livestock Market was a black spot, with at least four accidents weekly and with the most affected being pedestrians crossing the road,” he said.

“At Roberts Junction, which was supposed to have a roundabout, boda boda operators were being knocked down for failing to properly use indicators.”

Turkana leaders are also counting on the road not only to open up the region but also stabilise security through infrastructural development.

Turkana Woman Representative Joyce Emanikor said that a section from Lokichar to Juba, which forms part of the larger Lamu Port- South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport corridor, will see pastoralists in the regions diversify their sources of livelihood by venturing into cross border trade.

Turkana and West Pokot counties, she said, will be an avenue for transporting goods from the port of Mombasa, with goods destined South Sudan boosting Kenya’s revenues at the one-stop border post at Nadapal.

“We are also banking on the road to easily complete part of a road network from the northern border of Tanzania in Isebania through Kisumu, Kitale, Lodwar, Lokichogio, Nadapal to Juba, opening up the region to investors, she said.

Lodwar is also benefiting from the ongoing construction of a 630km high-speed fibre-optic cable on highway A1 from Eldoret to Nakodok that will be banked on to boost internet connectivity.

The ICT Authority chief executive Katherine Getao said the Sh3 billion project, on which they are collaborating with Kenha to deliver an integrated road and fibre infrastructure to open up northern Kenya, will ensure lower internet costs in all towns with estimated internet speeds of up to 100 gigabytes per second in Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot and Turkana counties.

She said Lodwar and other towns are experiencing greater internet connectivity for local communities with public institutions enjoying high-speed internet access after the existing fibre-optic cable was rehabilitated.

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