he Kenya National Highways Authority has said it will cost them Sh2 billion to repair the roads which have been damaged by the rains countrywide.
The authority’s chairman Engineer Wangai Ndirangu said nearly every part of the country has been affected.
He said so far Sh0.5 billion has been spent to repair sections of these roads and they will be seeking additional Sh1.5 billion.
Speaking during an inspection tour on some of the roads in Murang’a, Wangai said they have a team on the ground assessing the damage caused and the repair works will start soonest possible.
He highlighted parts of West Pokot which were affetced by the landslide, Mai Mahui route and other areas where flooding has been reported.
“The heavy rains have caused a lot of destruction on our roads forcing us to close sections of these roads but we are working to ensure they are repaired in good time,” he said.
In Kariua Kandara where a section of the Nyoka Nyoka road has been cut off, huge cracks stretching for close to a kilometer have made the road impassible.
At Kanjama along Kangema-Kiria-ini road, a section has sunk.
The road has been under repair after it sunk in 2018 and the work was completed barely six months ago consuming Sh175 million.
The chairman said the workmanship of the roads is not to blame but there could be other underlying issues.
“These cracks have been caused by earth movements and this is beyond the contractor’s control” said Wangai.
He said KENHA shall be seeking collaboration with geologists, meteorological departments, and universities to help conduct a geotechnical survey to help understand what is happening below the surface.
Peter Mundinia, KENHA Director-General on his part said people should embrace environmental conservation measures attributing this mess to human activities.
“The crisis we are experiencing now is largely related to our activities and its high time we think of conserving the environment” he said.
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