Construction of 2,000km roads will begin in February, says Infrastructure Principal Secretary John Mosonik

Infrastructure PS John Mosonik (left) briefs the media on the state of the roads sub-sector Tuesday, accompanied by Kenya Urban Roads Authority Director General Eng Peter Mundinia. [PHOTO: ELVIS OGINA]

The first phase of the Government’s ambitious 10,000km road network programme will kick off in February next year. The initial 2000km will cost an estimated Sh40 billion and is expected to act as a pilot for the new alternative road construction financing model.

Infrastructure Principal Secretary John Mosonik yesterday confirmed the programme to be implemented through the Public Private Partnership model will be rolled out in the next two months. Under the annuity programme, Government will negotiate uniform loans from banks while the contractors will design, build and maintain the roads.

The tenders will be awarded in mid-February before the actual construction commences. Eng Mosonik explained that the closing and opening of bids for the 2,000km roads will start on January 7, next year, while the remaining lot will be handled in February so that by mid-February, the tenders are awarded.

“The ministry has released the request for proposal documents to the prequalified consortia and expects bids by January 7, 2015,” said Eng Mosonik. He was addressing a press conference in his office yesterday. “The minister has moved with speed to make the programme a success. The prequalification process for the first 2,000 kilometres has been finalised whereby a total of 49 bidders have been selected through a competitive process involving 146 bid submissions.” The road network programme is part of the Government strategy to develop and rehabilitate 10,000 kilometres of the road network within five years.

Technical management

Mosonik said through the annuity financing model, the Government intends to leverage upon private sector investments and technical management know-how’ - where the private sector will source for their own resources to undertake the projects awarded and then seek payment from the Government upon project completion and inspection. Mosoniki explained that engaging the private sector is aimed at reducing the cost of doing business. “If well developed and efficiently and properly maintained, the roads network is critical for the transportation needs of people and goods, “he added.

He said the Government will establish an infrastructure fund to ensure availability of resources that public and private sectors can withdraw from. “Plans are underway to establish an infrastructure fund which will have a minimum of Sh40 billion every year and will be boosted through budget allocation and through input by commercial banks. Already we have a team of technical officers drawn from the ministry, banks, contractors, and fuel levy,” he added. Under the new model, contractors will be paid over eight years, but Eng Mosonik warned that no project will be cleared if the scheme has not fulfilled all the design conditions. The contractors will also be forced pay cost of the shoddy work.

He said request for prequalification for phase one was issued on June 26, 2014 and prequalification applications that were received and opened on August, 2014 have since been evaluated. On the delay of some major flagship projects to decongest Nairobi city, for example, improvement of Upper Hill roads and southern bypass, Mosonik said challenges that have been hindering the project have been sorted out. “The two projects will be completed by June neat year,” he added.

He noted that the paved road network has been expanded from 200km in 1963 to over 15,000km while unpaved road network has also been expanded from 43,000km to cover 140,000 km. Road conditions are improving, a reflection of the investment in roads, which has risen from Sh13.4 billion in the 2002-2003 financial year to Sh124 billion in 2012-2013 financial year.