The government has cancelled another tender awarded to a local road construction company and given it over shoddy work to a foreign contractor.
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia on Monday said the contract that had been given to Nyoro Construction Company in 2011 has been cancelled. The contractor failed to complete the Gitugi Mioro Road in stipulated time.
Macharia said the contractor also failed to heed a directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta last November to complete the road in a month.
The President, who was on a tour of Murang’a county, said he had received numerous complaints about the delayed construction and ordered the contractor to complete it.
The contractor had only done 40 per cent of the 40km road worth Sh2.1 billion.
“I visited the area two weeks ago and the residents said they do not want local contractors anymore,” the CS said.
He said the Chinese contractor has received the tender and will visit the site next week. The road has caused residents to conduct numerous demonstrations protesting against the contractor. They heckled members of the Parliamentary Roads Committee during an inspection tour in 2014.
The contractor becomes the second one to have his tender cancelled and awarded to a foreign contractor after Lee Construction Company, which had also delayed the completion of Makomboki Mairi Gatie Road in Kigumo in 2012.
Macharia paraded the company’s MD Lee Nyachae before locals at Makomboki shopping centre last year, where he made him pledge to complete the 25km road in 12 months.
The Cabinet Secretary said it is a shame that the contractor had only managed to tarmac 15 per cent of the road after three years, yet he had been paid Sh257 million, out of the total Sh1.5 billion.
Macharia spoke in Kiriaini town while commissioning the construction of the Mugeka-Thuita-Kiriaini-Gitugi-Chui Road. He said the government is tarmacking eight roads in the county. “The 262km roads will cost Sh11.3 billion. These roads will transform Murang’a county and will support the growth of the agriculture sector,” he said.