City expressway chaos could have been avoided

Constructions on the JKIA-Westlands expressway.[Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Recently, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia urged those affected by the Nairobi Expressway construction works to bear with the “little” discomfort since the project will be completed soon, probably by end of the year. I disagree and urge you to disavow; we must not reconcile with grief brought about by a charade project planning. To begin with, the CS should be reminded of the planning fallacy.

The planning fallacy refers to an optimistic prediction bias in which people underestimate the time it will take to complete a task, despite knowing that similar tasks have similarly taken them longer in the past. Government projects in Kenya, and largely in Africa, are synonymous with delays. It is almost ‘criminal’ to complete projects on time. How dare you?