New Constitution to restructure roads management

By Jackson Okoth

A sessional paper, which includes the role of country governments in the transport industry, will soon be tabled in Parliament.

The Integrated National Transport Policy, once approved, will be cascaded to the county level for implementation.

The Minister for Transport Amos Kimunya made this disclosure yesterday while opening the 13th Economic Management Symposium, organised by the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya (ICPSK).

"Through the Kenya Roads Board, we shall continue to disburse funds for the transport sector all the way to county level," said Transport Permanent Secretary Cyrus Njiru, who opened the workshop on behalf of the Transport Minister.

Review Roads Act

It is expected the roles of Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) and Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) will be accommodated within the county governments.

"However, there will be need to review the Kenya Roads Act of 2007 to make it compliant with the new Constitution," said Kimunya.

The Ministry plans to train county technocrats on how to undertake analysis, conceptualise transport sector projects, and develop their infrastructure. They will also be equipped with skills on creating maintenance plans, and collecting data on performance.

"The low capacity of local county contractors will also be enhanced through continuous training," said Kimunya.

The Ministry will also ensure financial accountability and eliminate the risk of pilferage through expenditure ceilings, project supervision and monitoring. The Ministry will also terminate any contracts that show no improvement.

Already, the Ministry has rolles-out a computerisation programme and a digital system that will link a particular vehicle to its owner, operator, licenses, driver, tout, route, past offences, court fines, mechanical condition, and location of the vehicle using Googlemaps.

Road network

"This level of technology and compliance is what we shall cascade to the county level," said Kimunya.

Available statistics indicate that the country’s entire road network is approximately 15,000 km.

Set up two years ago, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) is the State corporation mandated to manage, develop, rehabilitate and maintain national roads.