Government to tarmac 11,000kms of roads by June

James Macharia

Transports CS James Macharia accompanied by Mt Kenya leaders on October 9, 2021 during a tour to Muranga and Nyeri to oversee government infrastructures projects.

Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Cabinet Secretary for Transport says the government has already tarmacked more than 10,500kms of roads since 2013.
  • CS said the Jubilee administration has surpassed by 500 the number of kilometres it pledged to tarmac before it attained power in 2013.

The government now targets to tarmac more than 11,000 kilometres of roads by mid-next year. This is after surpassing what it had promised nine years ago to tarmac 10,000 km of roads.

This will nearly double the number of tarmacked roads from 14,000kms when Jubilee came to power almost a decade ago.

Top of the projects Jubilee government promised during the 2012/2013 campaigns was transport and infrastructure, which was dubbed a ‘21st-century transport and infrastructure system’.

According to Transport CS James Macharia, the government has so far tarmacked more than 10,500 kilometres of roads since 2013, surpassing its target of 10,000 kilometres of roads by the end of its second term.

CS Macharia said the Jubilee administration is now targeting to tarmac more than 11,000 kilometres of the road by the end of its term in its pledge to offer world-class transport solutions in the country.

Speaking when he inspected the construction of roads in Mathioya Sub-county on Friday, the CS said the Jubilee administration has surpassed by 500 the number of kilometres it pledged to tarmac before it attained power in 2013, noting that many other roads across the country are under construction.

“The current administration is keen to ensure there is an elaborate and upgraded road network in the country as the infrastructure will boost economic activities. The roads are being done in all parts in this nation and we are committed to ensuring roads under construction are completed by mid-next year,” said the CS.

In 2015, during its first term, the Jubilee government launched the annuity road financing programme that sought to tarmac roads countrywide under two categories; low volumes in counties and major roads in towns.

Kenya had 11,230 kilometres of bitumen roads in 2013, according to data in the 2014 Statistical Abstract published by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. This closely matches the 11,000 figure used in the 2013 Jubilee manifesto.

The CS said the Jubilee government in its first term did only 3,000 kilometres of road compared to over 7,000 kilometres it has done during the second term.

Development projects

This is one of the many trips CS Macharia has made in the region to inspect development projects initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In Mathioya, the CS commissioned the construction of Gitugi-Kagumoini road and inspected other roads that are under construction including Kanjama-Kagumoini, Kairo-Kagicha and rehabilitation of Kiriaini-Mugeka road.

Opening up various roads in the region, the CS noted, will boost agricultural activities considering Mathioya relies on tea and coffee. “We are pushing all the contractors to work within the given timelines so as to ensure the projects are fully complete and start serving the mwanachi,” he added.

The CS at the same time denied there is a rush by the Jubilee government to give the country a facelift in its final months when it had nine years to do so.

“The government is continuous, what changes is the administration. We are not looking at five years, what we are looking at is continuous and the needs of the mwananchi because the constant we have is that the people require these services,” he said.

Nevertheless, he added that for him and his team, they would still like to finish what they started while in office.

“It is a personal desire of me and my team and we are working as hard as we can. But you can look at what we have in the last nine years, we haven’t stopped and we didn’t start working yesterday because we are stopping next year, so the work is continuous,” said the CS.

He further added that the Mau Mau road, which connects four counties, is earmarked to be completed by September next year.

The road funded at a tune of Sh30 billion is expected to spur agriculture and ecotourism in the counties that border Aberdare Ranges.

“Construction of Mau Mau road has been given to four companies so as to hasten the works. Tarmacking the road has several challenges posed by the terrain but we are committed to ensure it’s completed at given timelines,” said the CS.