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BY KENYA INVESTMENT AUTHORITY
Kirinyaga County comprises of four Sub-counties which are; Gichugu, Mwea, Kirinyaga Central and Kirinyaga West. The Ministry of Transport, Roads and Public Works is a department of County Government of Kirinyaga that handles both transport and infrastructural issues. In this regard, the department is mandated with provision of access and mobility to motorized and non-motorized traffic and pedestrians in the entire County.
Under the mandate of the county government is the construction and maintenance of a road network that is defined as class D and below by the Fourth schedule of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Implementation of this task across all the four sub-counties of Kirinyaga would help a lot in opening up areas for agricultural and other enterprises - with the ripple effect of creating job opportunities and uplifting the standard of living of the residents.
The topographical nature of Kirinyaga-characterized by hilly terrain in some areas eg. Gichugu, Kirinyaga West, and Kirinyaga Central and poorly drained lowlands in others eg. Mwea poses a major challenge to road infrastructure development. These topographical challenges account for the low level all-weather road connectivity. On average, Kirinyaga County’s income from the national Equitable Share averages at less than Ksh 3 billion. With personnel emoluments consuming an average of 1.9 billion, the shared balance leaves each of the county departments with an average of Ksh 100 million. This amount is barely enough to do a 2 km paved road in a financial year.
At the very minimum, the construction of a 20 Km paved road in Kirinyaga would mean that the road consumes the entire development budget of the county for a full financial year leaving nothing for key sectors like health, agriculture, water, and education. Under this circumstance, any meaningful development of the county’s road infrastructure may only be practically possible through a mutually agreed partnership model with external development agencies.
The pole-positioning of Kirinyaga county in terms of centrality in Kenya, favourable physical environment and considerable high human capital defines a potential whose harnessing is primarily hindered by the poor condition of its roads network. Worst affected is the algriculture, which is the backbone of the county economy. The provision of good roads would therefore not only provide access to high potential agricultural areas but also spur growth in multiple sectors of the economy, including commerce and tourism. Other expected benefits are associated improvements in the social environment in terms of education, security and employment.
The main objective is to identify and upgrade key roads, under the county government’s mandate, to paved condition. The target priority roads in this case are:
In compliance to the PPDA, Kirinyaga county government’s department of Transport, Roads and Public Works will use the normal procurement process to contract the works. The roads would then be contracted to independent firms and supervised by county Engineers; while the post-project maintenance would be the responsibility of the county government, upon the lapsing of the defects period. Project Budget: The projected cost for paving the listed roads is estimated at Ksh 3 billion. This is based on a cost estimate of doing a kilometre of a low volume road at about Ksh. 50,000,000.00. This amount covers the detailed studies, designs work, project management (office and field) and the construction aspects of the projects.
The pole-positioning of Kirinyaga county in terms of centrality in Kenya, favourable physical environment and considerable high human capital defines a potential whose harnessing is primarily hindered by the poor condition of its roads network. Worst affected is the algriculture, which is the backbone of the county economy. The provision of good roads would therefore not only provide access to high potential agricultural areas but also spur growth in multiple sectors of the economy, including commerce and tourism. Other expected benefits are associated improvements in the social environment in terms of education, security and employment.
At the very minimum, the construction of a 20 Km paved road in Kirinyaga would mean that the road consumes the entire development budget of the county for a full financial year leaving nothing for key sectors like health, agriculture, water, and education. Under this circumstance, any meaningful development of the county’s road infrastructure may only be practically possible through a mutually agreed partnership model with external development agencies.
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