Kisumu county will hire 320 residents to maintain the 210km of rural roads.
Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o said the first phase of roads rehabilitation will cost Sh14 million.
He said on Tuesday eight casual workers and a supervisor have been deployed in 35 wards for the project.
The governor spoke when he launched the Kisumu West and Seme subcounties' roads maintenance teams.
The county has recruited on a casual basis five technical supervisors, 35 supervisors and 280 labourers. This translates to one supervisor per ward and eight workers per ward, Nyong'o said.
The governor said the programme will ensure timely road repair and create jobs for youth and women.
He said the project will enable community ownership of their roads.
This programme will maintain three kilometres of roads per village,” he said.
Nyong'o said his government aims to repair 350km rural roads during the 2021-22 financial year, an increase from the 250km in the 2020-21 financial year.
The Kisumu County Rural Roads Maintenance Policy was enacted in 2018.
The objective was to ensure roads are passable by motorised and non-motorised traffic throughout the year and to provide jobs and empowerment for youth and women.
In Seme subcounty, the county constructed three box culverts; Aoro Ondiek one and two and koimbo box culverts, providing connectivity for vehicular movement and pedestrians.
Eighteen kilometres of roads were maintained under the Kenya Roads Board Programme and 25km under the Machine-based roads programme.
The launched clay crate technology in roads maintenance. It increases stability and offers new technology to sustain road conditions for five to 10 years.
The technology will be used on 12.2km roads during FY 2021-22.
The roads currently being improved with the technology are the 8km Guba-Gita-Namba-Kabong’o filter road in Kajulu; the 4.2km Kisumu East subcounty and Lela-Agulu-Mbaka-Oromo roadi n Northwest Kisumu ward.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
