- Murkomen said the Transport ministry was re-planning construction of the Rironi-Mau Summit dual carriage way without directly charging road users.
- The CS said theTransport ministry had a grand vision of continuing projects started in the past 10 years during the Jubilee government.
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Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has promised resumption of the construction of the multi-billion Rironi-Mau Summit dual carriageway once some procurement and management hitches are cleared.
He said the government was committed to dualing the stretch that has been experiencing massive traffic jams sometimes lasting six to 12 hours.
The CS, who was accompanied by Governors Susan Kihika (Nakuru) and Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi), Majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot and other current and former MPs who served in the last Senate, said the current contract also makes it impossible for every Kenyan to use road.
He said the contract states that motorists would be tolled in order to use the expressway as a way of helping the government repay the loan that financed its construction.
“President William Ruto and his administration does not want to leave irresponsible public debts that burden the public,” he said.
Murkomen said the Transport ministry was re-planning construction of the Rironi-Mau Summit dual carriage way without directly charging road users.
“At the end of the day, the road will be done without asking people to repay a Sh300 billion loan which was used to construct 175km of road," the CS said.
Speaking at Kingdom Seekers Church in Nakuru, he said that his department inherited very serious economic and finance challenges that include a Sh910 billion debt, which has to be paid before constructing new roads.
The CS said the Transport ministry had a grand vision of continuing projects started in the past 10 years during the Jubilee government.
Murkomen added that he was working closely with the Ministry of Finance and the entire Cabinet to ensure they get money to build infrastructure worth close to Sh1 trillion.
He said that the ministry was at the same time required to pay another Sh600 billion annually to settle pending debts for things that we have done before.
The CS said he was aware of pending roads in Nakuru, including some new ones that have been requested by the people and promised to deliver.
“The Ministry of Transport is in talks with development partners and the Ministry of Finance to raise resources to complete all pending road projects,” Murkomen said.
He said in its efforts to decongest Nakuru City, the government would build a Southern bypass next to Lake Nakuru National Park and another one on the Northern side, in Bahati subcounty.
“This will ease traffic in the city because it will be left for motorist who have business in the city,” the CS said.
On the Ngata bridge blackspot that has become a death trap, the CS maintained his promise to build a barrier in between, similar to what was done to the Kibunja-Salgaa section.
Murkomen said the procurement process of dualing the section between Eveready and Ngata Primary was underway with the construction expected to be complete by the end of April.
The CS was responding to a request by Governor Kihika who has said that halting the construction of Rironi-Mau Summit Expressway would be detrimental to the people of Nakuru.
(edited by Amol Awuor)