THE government has
cleared more than 60 per cent of all pending bills owed to road contractors,
paving way for resumption of works on stalled projects across the country.
At the same time,
through the Ministry of the Transport and Infrastructure, the state has put in place measures to ensure that no new pending
bills accrue from on-going road projects throughout the country.
The chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, George Kariuki, said that,
“As of now we have covered over 60 per cent of the pending bills and you know
the total pending bills when President Dr William Ruto took over was a
trillion shillings. So, he has done a good job to ensure all our contractors are
paid and most of them are back to work.”
The
Ndia MP defended the recent decision by the Ministry of
Transport to tap part of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund to finance
road construction.
He said that the move
to securitise 28 per cent of the fund would enable the government to raise
Sh175 billion, which will be used to pay contractors and forestall the
possibility of having stalled projects.
“The President has done
a good job with support from the Transport and Infrastructure CS Davis
Chirchir in ensuring that we securitise the little resources we have so as to
raise adequate monies to pay the cumulative pending bills,” he said.
Regarding the status of
road projects in the region, the MP said that the government was keen on
completion of the Kenol-Sagana-Marua dual carriageway, which had stalled at the
Kangocho –Marua section due to delayed compensation claims.
Kariuki confirmed that
the government had already released compensation for 897 project affected persons, whose land was hived off to allow for the dualling of the
84km highway.
“The government is
focused on ensuring that nobody loses his or her property. One thing we need to
appreciate is that the government believes in the rule of law and upholding
property rights. I don’t think we will have any issue with the project affected
persons. In due course, people will be compensated and we will complete the
remaining bit of the project.”
Additionally, the
government had released Sh60 million for the construction of the
Tumutumu-Kiagoma road, which is expected to ease access for the residents of Wakamata to the PCEA Tumutumu Mission hospital in Nyeri county.
“We are at the
contracting stage and very soon we will get a contractor, who will come to
implement that project,” he said.
Kariuki spoke at the
Tumutumu Mixed Secondary School, Mathira West subcounty, where he was
accompanied by the Mathira legislator Eric Wamumbi and Nyeri Senator Wahome
Wamatinga.
During the function, the
trio helped raise Sh7.2 million to support the renovation of the
school and construction of a dining hall.
Kariuki called
for tolerance among the elected leaders, urging them to tone down empty
rhetoric and all other things that don’t add value to wananchi.
Instead, the MP
appealed to his colleagues to refocus their energies on enhancing livelihoods
and the general social economic status of the electorate.
“Let us remain focused
on good governance because in the absence of it, we will not be able to achieve
our objectives.
