The Kenya Urban Roads Authority has signed a US $132m deal with a consortium
of Lee Construction Limited, Cape Construction and Moto Engil Africa for the construction and maintenance of
stalled roads in Western and Central Kenya.
KURA Director General, Silas Kinoti said that
the deal breathes a new lease of life for the Roads Annuity Program which has
been facing a number of challenges mainly defined by inadequacy of financing
partners.
The two PPP agreements will oversee the
construction and maintenance of roads across ten counties. Under the new deal
are Riamukurwe-Gatitu road in Nyeri County, Kanjuki-Mauktano road in
Tharaka-Nithi and the Busia-Alupe bypass in Western Kenya.
The project that will cover 80-km of road will
continue for the next decade. The government had an initial plan of completing
2000 km of road within the 2014/15 financial year.
Other key road projects highlighted under the Road
Annuity Project include the dualling of the Nairobi-Mombasa highway with the
commercial contract already in place, the second Nyali Bridge in Mombasa and
the Nairobi-Narok-Mau Summit highway.
“Roads under construction currently stand at 6,400
km. Once we start the construction of a road; we are due to finish it. We hope
to get to the 10,000 km mark over the next two years,” said Transport CS James
Macharia.
Cognisant of the dependency of infrastructure
financing on the annual budget, the Cabinet approved partnerships with the
private sector in March 2015. This was done with the objective of developing
and rehabilitating 10,000 km of road through long-term contracts.
“Despite of the evolving challenges, KURA remains keen on the private-public initiated financing reading benefits for contractors, bankers, consultants and equipment suppliers. We are confident that the lot of annuity projects will result in greater economic benefits to the beneficiary urban counties,” said Silas Kinoti.https://constructionreviewonline.com/2019/05/kura-signs-us-132m-deal-for-stalled-roads-projects/
