Kenya’s private sector to take lead in road construction

NAIROBI, KENYA: The private sector will now take the lead in construction of roads in the country starting with the 10,000 kilometres in the next five years, the Government announced Monday.

Contractors will now also take the role of designing, constructing and maintaining the roads while the Government will give specifications and approve the standards.

Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau and his Treasury counterpart Henry Rotich said the Government will in turn pay the contractors in a period of eight years at regular intervals.

The two spoke after a meeting with Deputy President William Ruto ahead of a conference to be held on Wednesday with players in the road construction industry. President Uhuru Kenyatta will open the conference at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

Already an expression of interest for those willing to construct the 2,000 kms in the 2014/15 year has been sent out.

"There is a difference between what we propose to do and what used to happen previously. Contractors will have their consultants to design the roads so the issue of escalation of costs does not arise when we provide the designs," Mr Kamau said.

He argued that contractors complained of wrong designs which led to escalation of costs in the past. "Now the onus will be with them because they will have to repair the roads for a period of six years."

He said the Government will also work with Governors to ensure standards of roads constructed are of high quality.

Mr Rotich added: "We are trying to bring in a new mode of financing where the private sector will play a big role. This mode has been used in Australia and the United Kingdom."

Those expected at the conference include contractors, engineers, consultants, suppliers, equipment manufacturers among others. Already the Government has talked to financiers on the same.

Also present at the meeting were principal secretary John Musonik and Kenya National Highways Authority director general Meshack Kidenda among others.