Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti has said his administration won’t hesitate to blacklist any contractor who breaches the terms of the contract in any way.
Ndeti said all contracts should be completed as scheduled stating that the quality of the assigned works will not be negotiable.
“I want to assure all contractors that once they complete their tasks diligently, we will pay them their dues without delay. We have the funds ready,” Ndeti said.
She spoke during her inspection tour of Machakos Bus Park renovation and the ongoing re-carpeting of the Miwani – new Machakos City road on Monday.
Ndeti said her dream was to see a prosperous Machakos with highly productive people where residents enjoy the services of their government to the fullest.
“When I traversed Machakos County seeking the people’s mandate to be voted in as the governor of Machakos County, I made a solemn promise to work tirelessly and serve the people without fear or favour,” Ndeti said.
“I once more sincerely thank the people of Machakos County for having faith in me and giving me the opportunity to serve them in this office,” she added.
The county boss said road infrastructure remains a critical element of development not only in Machakos but in the entire country and around the world.
She said good roads provide efficient transport and easy movement of goods and people thereby leading to accelerated economic growth.
“My government’s department of Roads, Transport and Public Works under the leadership of CECM Nathaniel Nganga and his team has so far done a commendable job in actualizing my agenda to transform Machakos into a 24-hour economy,” Ndeti said.
Ndeti said she was elected on her three-pillar platform of infrastructural development, food security and socio-economic transformation which was well captured in her clarion philosophy of ‘Chakula Mezani, Pesa Mfukoni’.
She said it was important to give priority to projects such as road infrastructure development as they strived to attract more investors into the county.
“The efforts have also impacted positively the agricultural sector. Our farmers find it increasingly more convenient to transport their produce to various destinations,” Ndeti said.
Ndeti said the road infrastructure she had inspected was critical in their development plan citing the construction of New Machakos City where a huge number of local and international investors had expressed interests to set up operations.
“Immediately after assuming office, I found a significant number of our roads across the county in bad conditions. That is why within my first 100 days in office, I initiated the Rapid Response Initiatives where we graded 1,325 kilometres of roads across the County.
"The Barabara Mashinani program was done in all the Sub-Counties in Machakos County,” Ndeti said.
She said there were 56 active contracts of ongoing road works across the county where grading, gravelling, installation of drifts, culverts, gabions and pothole patching were on course.
“Just last week, we completed the re-carpeting of this Machakos Bus Park whose state was deplorable and had been neglected for the last 15 years,” Ndeti said.
Ndeti appealed to Machakos residents to take advantage of the projects to intensify their economic activities and create more wealth and employment opportunities.
“We encourage our people to exploit these avenues to expand and grow their enterprises in order to eradicate poverty among our people,” Ndeti said.
She said she will continue opening up the entire county through an improved road network in-order to spur socio-economic development among the residents.
This, Ndeti said was in line with her manifesto alongside Kenya’s Vision 2030’s blue print.
Ndeti urged contractors entrusted with public resources to work on various projects across the county to "ensure we get value for our money".
“Public funds are sacrifices by taxpayers’ and must be deployed fully to address the earmarked projects,” Ndeti said.
