Standstill residents up in arms against delayed works on the Kisumu-Kakamega highway

Pupils walk on an open drainage trench along the along Kisumu-Kakamega road on Wednesday. Residents are up in arms over the delayed construction of the road. [Photo: Collins Oduor, Standard]

Motorists, residents and the business community in Kisumu are up in arms over transport chaos caused by the extension of the busy Kisumu-Kakamega highway.

Works on the highway, which is being turned into an eight-kilometre dual carriageway between the Kisumu Boys roundabout to Mamboleo estate junction, have blocked access roads without offering alternatives. 

Motorists are now up in arms that SBI Holdings, the contractor working on the road, has cut off access to key parts of the town and estates and is not in a hurry to finish construction.

The town’s main bus park is among the amenities that have been sealed off for nearly two months, causing chaos and attracting rush-hour traffic snarl ups.

Matatu Owners Association Nyanza regional coordinator Sam Ndiege said the terminal’s entrance has for the last month doubled up as the exit, causing disorder and unnecessary gridlocks.

“They heaped murram on the main exit, forcing all drivers, including those headed towards Busia, to go all the way to the Kachok roundabout, some two kilometres away, before finding their way out of town via the Nairobi road,” he said.

After blocking access to the bus park, no construction work has been done on the stretch. Matatu operators, Mr Ndiege said, were planning protests to push the Government to terminate SBI’s contract over the mess.

“This is a key highway and we expected the contractor to treat it as such. But we think they are being too casual with how they are handling the project. They cannot block access roads and not offer alternative routes,” he lamented.

Access to the populous residential areas of Kenya Re, Migosi and Lolwe estates have also been cut off by the road works.

“The alternative route provided is in bad shape and this is costly for both private car owners and matatu operators who have to bear the cost of heavy fuel consumption and worn out shocks,” Ndiege said.

Kisumu activist Audi Ogada described the situation as economic sabotage. The Kisumu City Residents Voice chairman put the contractor on notice, warning that if works are not completed by beginning of July, he would mobilise residents to demonstrate.

Mr Ogada said in addition to transport hitches, retail businesses situated along the stretch had lost customers with a supermarket the hardest hit. “We have never seen a contractor close all link routes without offering alternatives.This is unacceptable, especially because this project started nearly two years ago.”

Gaping holes left by the contractor, he added, were deadly traps to school children, some of who had to jump over trenches every day.

The road works have regularly interrupted the town’s water supply whenever excavators break crucial pipes. Power interruptions have also been reported.

Even boda boda taxis, which are now the only viable means of transport linking the town to blocked-off sections, have had to dangerously manouvre narrow conduits and murram mounds to ferry passengers.

Ogada said the situation was snowballing into a security threat because even police patrols were constrained.

Contacted for comment, the management of SBI Holdings referred us to County Engineer Moses Werunga who dismissed claims that the contractor had failed to offer alternative routes.

“For an urban setting, the existing diversions are sufficient,” he said.