Mwiki residents have asked for speedy construction of the Kasarani-Mwiki road six months after protests which left one person dead and several injured.
They have also accused contractors of leaving huge heaps of soils that are becoming a menace for pedestrians to maneuver and that have disrupted businesses along the road.
“The only progress that we are seeing is the digging the drainage and we are afraid its completion might take longer than we expected. The soil that they are leaving behind should be carried and dumped somewhere.”
“We have no space to display our products. Our customers are afraid of crossing the shaky wooden bridge that we improvised. Now we are mostly depending on our referrals,” carpenter Joseph odhiambo said.
“A lot of dust particles have entered my grocery shop and that is posing as a health risk to my products. Customers cannot come to my stall to enjoy fruit salad,” Elizabeth Wanjiku said.
Hundreds of traders will be forced to move to a more convenient area to pave way for the dual road by July 7.
The scope of the work, according to the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, includes the improvement to bitumen standard of the 3km Kasarani-Mwiki Road and Sunnyside Court Estate Road which is approximately 600m long.
Its work will also include the construction of drainage structures on selected sections, construction of 7m carriageways with 1m wide shoulders, construction of open drains on either side of the road, putting up road furniture, utility relocation, safety provisions and protection works.
The Kura communication boss did not respond to texts or calls for comment.
Kasarani MP Mercy Gakuya said the Njiru-Kamiti Road will be dualed before the end of the year. The road serves thousands of residents of Kasarani constituency.
The distance from Naritobi CBD to Kasarani stadium is approximately 17km and it takes about 15 minutes during off-peak and about 25 during peak hours.
On January 30, the government said it had allocated more than Sh2 billion for the road.
In February, matatu operators plying the Kasarani-Mwiki route threatened another protest over the delayed rehabilitation of the road.
Kura said the delay was caused by the ongoing rainfall.
According to a report by Deloitte 2017, time and cost overruns have been identified as the main effect of delays, which are a recurring problem in the road construction industry.
The report, which looked at African construction trends in the past year, said 87 per cent of all Kenyan public projects suffered time delays while 48 per cent overshot their budgets creating a loophole for corruption to thrive.
Edited by R.Wamochie