Transport along the Lamu-Witu-Garsen road has resumed after the Gamba section that was destroyed by floods underwent full repair.
At least Sh.12 million was spent in undertaking the temporary rehabilitation of the 2-kilometre road section that had hindered continuous travel on the route.
The Gamba road section was flooded and washed away early last month, forcing travellers to use boats to cross over and connect their journey from Mombasa to Lamu and vice versa.
Fahim Ahmed, the Director of Equistar Limited company which was contracted to undertake the temporary rehabilitation, vehicles can now cross safely as the refilling of the destroyed section has been finalized.
This has been done using murram, boulders and hardcore.
“We had to work 24 hours every day to ensure road transport resumed as soon as possible. We are happy to announce that the road can be used again,” he said.
He revealed that a major challenge encountered during the exercise was ferrying construction materials from far and at the fact that they had to work in flooded waters.
“Three to four sections had been cut off which we successfully filled with blocks and boulders. The road is open for use,” he said.
Commuters lauded the government for fast-tracking the rehabilitation of the flooded section.
The Lamu-Witu-Garsen road is the only entry point and connection to Lamu from the rest of Kenya.
The supply of commodities, including foodstuffs to Lamu had greatly been affected by the cut-off of the Gamba road section.
The complete rehabilitation of the Lamu-Witu-Garsen route at Gamba and the resumption of transport comes at a time when commuters have asked the state to consider building a flyover bridge at the flooded section.
A flyover bridge, also known as an overpass or an elevated roadway, is a bridge built over an existing road or intersection.
“This will be the only way to tackle the issue of flooding and road damage at Gamba as this place is prone to flooding,” said Johnson Mwangi.
