Nakuru County has petitioned the Ministry of Transport to make sure that 80 percent of materials used in the construction of the Rironi-Mau Summit road are sourced from within. With months to go before the Sh160B project kicked off, Governor Lee Kinyanjui said that they were keen to make sure that locals fully benefited from the road.
Speaking during a development tour in Naivasha, Kinyanjui said that he had already engaged the CS for Transport James Macharia over the project. He noted that in the past, contractors involved in various capital projects had outsourced labor and construction materials despite their availability in the county.
“We shall not allow the contractor to outsource labor as we have enough workforce and construction materials in the county,” he said.
He termed the expressway as a game changer adding that the contractor should also address the issues of road safety to avoid the high cases of fatal accidents along the highway. The Governor revisited the rising cases of fatal accidents in Ihindu center along the Nairobi- Nakuru highway terming the cases of worrying.
He supported plans to put up speed bumps or foot bridge near Ihindu market where at least nine people have been killed in the last one month.
“We are worried by the rising number of accidents along the highway and we hope the contractor involved in the construction of the expressway will address this,” he said.
On her part, Gilgil Mp Martha Wangari, the road was critical to the economy of the country and would ease the mode of movement and increase business opportunities. She supported the calls for the footbridges noting that this would help reduce the high number of pedestrians killed along the current highway.
“We held a consultative meeting with KENHA and we have raised the issue of footbridges next to major towns to assist residents safely cross the road,” she said. Wangari also called for the construction of a trailer parking bay in towns like Kikopey and Salgaa so as to reduce the current congestion.
“We expect works by the French consortium to kick off in the next one month and this will be a game changer for the region,” she said.
Wangari at the same time challenged the contractor to consider local youths while employing workers for the road. “We shall follow up to make sure that residents of areas where the road will pass through will be the first to benefit from job opportunities,” she said.