How first tarmac road is transforming Wajir County

Hussein Abdi has lived his entire life in Wajir County. Born 68 years ago, 15km east of Wajir town, the village elder has been around long enough to see it all. Or so he thought.

Mr Abdi has not travelled that much. He has only visited towns in northern Kenya, the likes of Habwasein, Eldas and El Wak.

And like most people in his village, Abdi had never seen a tarmac road prior to 2014.

So when the county government announced in late 2013 that it had prioritised the construction of a tarmac road in Wajir town, he slaughtered a camel for his family in anticipation.

Since that day, almost two years ago, Abdi has made it his business to ferry people from the interior parts of Wajir – one of Kenya ’s largest counties occupying 10 per cent of the country's land mass – to see the road.

Lost business

“We started by walking, then we started using boda bodas and we now use taxis. I used to charge Sh100 for people to come and see the new road but I lost business when they discovered that they could see, touch and sit on it without paying a shilling,” he said with a cheeky smile.

According to the county government, the majority of the over 700,000 county residents had never seen a tarmacroad before the first kilometre was built in 2014.

Wajir town, established by the British settlers in 1912 as a regional colonial office, is one of the country’s most remote places. It is a semi-arid outback that has never shed its 'badhia' (rural area in the Somali language) tag.

The county was one of the poorest in Kenya and famine, lack of water, lack of infrastructure and abject poverty were the order of the day.

Located almost 700km from Nairobi, it would take you about three days by bus, if you are lucky. If you were not, you could spend even a week, sleeping in the open, while mechanics tried hard to bring the bus back to life.

According to Safiya Abdullahi, the tarmac road has transformed Wajir town more than anything else since independence.

“Before the tarmac road, we had only two storied buildings in Wajir town. We now have at least five coming up. We didn’t even have demarcations for the town but the road has now made it possible for us to demarcate the town better,” Ms Safiya said.

Construction of the tarmac road, has totally transformed the once sleepy and dusty town.

Old buildings

The value of property along the tarmac has also gone up. Dozens of old buildings along the road have come down and are being replaced with modern ones. There are also many new hotels coming up, including a coffee house.

Residents like Shukri Dubow, a 35-year-old watchman who calls himself “macho”, have a new moniker for the town. “This is the new Eastliegh,” he said.

Before the 28km road was built, the local matatu and taxi association estimates there were about 150 vehicles operating in the town.

“We now have more than 700 vehicles. We are excited that soon we might also have a feel of traffic jams,” Abdi Noor, a taxi operator, joked.

Not even boda boda operators have been left behind.

“We used to have less than 100 boda bodas operating in this town. Since the tarmac road was done, we now have more than 300,” said Timothy Kamenjo, a 25-year-old boda boda operator.

Along the road, businesses close late after the county government installed 20 floodlights and more than 300 solar-powered streetlights to boost security in 2015.

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