The over 4,700km road network in Nyandarua county is set for an upgrade after the regional government bought Sh500 million machinery for road construction and maintenance.
A thanksgiving and dedication prayer for the equipment will be held on Wednesday at the Ol Kalou Stadium where Governor Francis Kimemia will also launch the machinery.
The graders, tippers, lorries, excavators, rollers, low loaders, fuel trucks and pick-ups will be distributed to all the five sub-counties where works will commence immediately.
The Governor’s Service Delivery Unit boss Bishop John Kairu on Monday said the road construction equipment constitutes Kimemia’s covenant with residents to upgrade all roads.
Kimemia promised that the roads shall never be used as campaign tools again.
Kairu spoke following a cabinet meeting at the county headquarters in preparation for the launch. The equipment, he said, will open new roads, upgrade the existing ones and ensure an all year round maintenance.
“This will drastically improve the ease of doing business and transportation of our farm produce to the market,” he said
The national government, he said, has seconded drivers and operators from NYS and Mechanical Transport Fund (MTF) to take charge of the equipment for a short period as the county recruits qualified personnel.
Finance executive Mary Mugwanja said the equipment was by funds from the World Bank grant under the Kenya Devolution Support Programme.
Nyandarua was ranked number two under the KDSP assessment programme in the financial year 2016-17 and received Sh283 million.
The county was ranked first the following year, getting another Sh254 million. It again topped during the 2018-19 financial year and is currently waiting to receive Sh184 million.
Mugwanja said all-weather roads are among Kimemia’s flagship projects geared towards improved production and wealth creation.
“If our people will get wealth as envisioned in the governor’s manifesto and the CIDP, we must ensure economic enablers such as roads are done to standard,” Mugwanja said.
The executive says Nyandarua depends on agriculture for its economy given that it is the leading potato producer in the country and second in milk production.
Public Works executive Ndung’u Wangenye said all the county's 25 wards have been clustered into five construction units. The units have their headquarters in Njabini, Ndunyu Njeru, Ol Kalou, Mirangine and Ndaragwa towns.
Each unit will receive an excavator, a grader, a pick-up truck, three tippers, a roller, a fuel tanker and a low loader.
Each unit will have a manager under the unit management committee which will prepare work plans and submit them to the roads department for approval and designs. Once in place, each cluster will do one kilometre of road per day.
“Some roads in Nyandarua have never been graded since the beginning of time,” Wangenye said
Education executive Stephen Njoroge said the equipment will be a game-changer.
“We are very sure Nyandarua will never be where it has been for those many years. We have been able to benchmark with some of the best counties and even abroad. We have put a lot of thought into it to ensure Kimemia’s vision is not in vain,” Njoroge said.
Edited by P.O