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10d agoGEORGE OWITIRealtime
The long-awaited expansion of the Rironi-Naivasha-Mau Summit and Rironi-Mahi-Mahiu-Naivasha roads is set to begin next month.
This even as it emerged the government has unlocked the construction of several other roads that had initially stalled after paying a significant amount of money owed to contractors.
Transport CS Davis Chirchir disclosed that the Directorate of Public-Private Partnership is currently finalising the procurement of contractors for the projects.
“So, we expect to break ground given a successful process, before the end of August, next month,” he said.
However, Chirchir could not disclose the actual contractors for the projects as sought by senators, stating that the contractors will be disclosed once the procurement process is completed.
“As we speak, we don’t have a contractor. They are currently being evaluated through the PPP process. They are at the development phase,” he said.
The CS said the government is fast-tracking, especially the Rironi-Naivasha Mau Summit, which experiences heavy traffic snarl-ups.
“We are working with speed because we do appreciate that Kenyans have suffered on this road with the kind of congestion. Sometimes people are sleeping on the road,” he said.
Speaking when he appeared before the Senate plenary yesterday, Chirchir said the government paid a substantial amount of money to contractors, unlocking several roads that had stalled.
“We have done fairly well with the unlocking of pending bills and ensuring that every road that has a contractor has milestone funding in the year 2025-26 to ensure that we don’t only pay for pending bills, but we have money to pay for the subsequent certificates raised,” he said.
Among the roads are the Mombasa-Mtwapa-Kilifi project, the Mtwapa-Kwa Kazengo-Kilifi and the design of the Cheptiret-Eldoret-Leseru Junction.
Others are Devki-Kinanie Park/Kananie Leather Park Road in Machakos, Matuu-Ekalakala-Kangulu and Juncion C439 and Tala-Ol Donyo-Sabuk (C466).
"The contractors were in a very bad state. We owed them money. They owed subcontractors money. They owed suppliers of cement and steel. They did not pay their workers," Chirchir said.
The CS said the construction of the Mombasa-Mtwapa-Kilifi project is divided in two lots with different completion dates.
The first lot is Mombasa-Mtwapa road whose construction started in November 2022, with the progress being 42 per cent. The project is expected to be completed by November 2026.
The CS said the second lot of which is Mtwapa-Kwa Kazengo-Kilifi road project started in December 2021 and currently the progress is 64 per cent, with the works expected to be completed by March 2026.
Chirchir said his ministry through the Kenya Urban Roads Authority is undertaking a public-private partnership project for the second Nyali Bridge, which is still at preliminary stage.
Machakos Senator Agnes Kavindu asked for a status update on the upgrade to bitumen standard of the 25km Mombasa Road (Devki-Kinanie Park/Kinanie Leather Park Road in Machakos county, which was allocated Sh1.7 billion by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority.
Chirchir said following the clearance of most pending bills in April this year, the contractor resumed works and requested an extension of time, which was reviewed and approved, setting the revised completion date for this project at January 14, 2026.
The CS said the contractor was asked to submit a revised programme of works and through engagement with the ministry, a budgetary allocation of Sh400 million was secured for 2025-26.
Chirchir said KeNHA utilises privately owned motor vehicles as it outsources road maintenance works through performance-based contracts, particularly on critical roads such as Thika Road and Nairobi Southern Bypass, aimed to ensure rapid response to incidents and breakdowns.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
In January, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki assured that all stalled roads will be revived and completed after the government allocates funds for their construction. He said President William Ruto has stabilised the economy after putting in place key interventions the last two years and finances are now available for ongoing projects across the country.
