Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has said the roads damaged by heavy rainfall throughout the country will cost Ksh37.3 billion shillings in repair.
Speaking during a meeting with the Principal Secretary of Roads and Transport Joseph Mbugua and four director generals for road authorities Philemon Kandie, Kung’u Ndung’u, Silas Kinoti and Rashid Mohammed, Murkomen said the cost would cater for road infrastructure and repairs.
An assessment report by the director generals put the cost of the repairs as Ksh18.5 billion for Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), Ksh9.7 billion for the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) and Ksh9.1 billion for Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA).
According to Murkomen, several bridges and roads across the country were swept away during the El-Nino rains experienced towards the end of the year 2023, and the subsequent floods that occurred during the month of March.
“Restoration of the damaged infrastructure has begun, starting with the most critical ones where people are cut off, even as we await allocation in the next financial year,” Murkomen said in a statement.
Murkomen’s directive
He challenged the four director generals to find innovative means to achieve quality repairs with the available resources, adding that his ministry was seeking additional support from development partners.
Murkomen also noted that the rural roads lacked maintenance funds and that his ministry was in communication with Parliament and the Treasury to allocate more funds towards the same.
The Cabinet Secretary also added that security-challenged regions need special consideration to ensure the standard quality of work is achieved.
In May 2024, Murkomen put the figure for repairing roads at approximately Ksh30billion.
This was after a road linking Lamu to the port was swept away by floods, forcing trucks heading to Ethiopia to use alternative routes.
He explained how the situation has made it difficult for evacuation of a consignment of 60,000 metric tons of fertilizer belonging to Ethiopia, which was brought in through the port of Lamu from Morocco.
“We have conducted an assessment of the damage caused by floods so far and we have established that the extent of the loss is devastating. We have lost a number of roads and bridges in the country,” Murkomen noted then.
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