A tar-laying machine at a road construction site.  [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By GEOFFREY MOSOKU

KENYA; The construction of roads across the country has either been suspended or stalled following the government’s delay in paying billions of shillings owed to contractors.

The Roads and Civil Engineering Contractors Association (RACECA) yesterday told Parliament that the State owes them Sh22 billion in full-certified amounts for on-going works.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Transport chaired by Starehe MP Maina Kamanda, the contractors also said banks had stopped lending them money as they were unable to repay the loans.

“We cannot access any money to continue with works on already existing road projects since the government has not been able to pay any of our members,” RACECA chairman Kishan Singh Gehlot said.

The contractors yesterday said the government had failed to pay most of them for between two months to one year, resulting in the crippling of their operations.

LOSS OF JOBS

Singh told legislators that over 60 road projects in the country had ground to a halt, leading to loss of jobs for about 5,000 youth.

“Banks are no longer willing to lend money to contractors whom they consider bad debtors,” he said while lamenting inadequate budgetary allocations to the roads sector.

The contractors said the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) owes them Sh14 billion while the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA) and Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) owe them Sh8 billion.

“The total budgetary allocation for KeNHA this year is Sh8 billion against a debt of Sh14 billion,” Singh added.

Contractors also want Parliament to address the fate of their contracts when KURA and KERRA are fully devolved to counties.

“Much as we appreciate provisions of the new Constitution on devolution, RACECA’s position is that Parliament and the government should guarantee that existing contractual obligations with KURA and KERRA are honoured,” member Dan Ameyo said.

Runyenjes MP Cecily Mbarire termed the revelations a crisis that must be addressed by relevant ministries urgently.

“It is clear that there is a crisis looking at what the contractors have presented to us and this calls for a meeting with the ministry for us to understand how they intend to address it,” she added.

Kamanda said the committee would summon Treasury chief Henry Rotich and his Infrastructure counterpart Michael Kamau to shed more light on the issue.