County Government of Laikipia

You are associated with the improvement of road infrastructure under the Laikipia Leasing Programme since its inception in September 2019, how better is the concept compared to the traditional way of contracting?

  

In a contract, you are fixed. Let's say we are constructing a road and it is 1km, with the cost range of 2-3 million depending on the nature of the road, you cannot tell a contractor to push a further 200m to join another road. If it is a road from X-Y, it cannot be X-Y-Z.

  

The benefit is that we have been able to lower the cost of road construction. Under the leasing programme, we are doing a kilometre at the cost of 750,000 compared to Ksh. 1.2 million per gravelled kilometres under contract. , says Eng. Duncan Mwangi, Chief Officer Infrastructure.

  

What the leasing programme is doing is creating that connectivity with ease making sure that we can connect a road using short links and do it very fast with the turn around is 5-6 days.

  

If the same road is done through contracting, we first have to go through the procurement process starting from a budget cycle, approval of the assembly, preparing bills of quantity and tendering process which takes almost a month to get done.

  

The leasing programme shortens the process as we only need to sit down to consult the ward administrators and engage the MCAs to state the roads they want to be done in their areas. Once they do that, we immediately begin the construction.

  

There have been claims that the programme has taken away road rehabilitation works from local contractors. What's your take?

  

It is not true. The road network in Laikipia is 7,000 km and even if we were to apply these kilometres to the leasing programme, we will take a long time to construct them.

  

The leasing programme mostly focuses on rural roads. There are many roads that are under construction within our urban centres and they are all being done by contractors. This financial year was for paying pending bills, I believe as we move to the next financial year, we bring on board those contractors who previously worked on rural roads and move together in constructing rural roads.

  

What can you say are the achievements, so far, of the equipment leasing programme in improving road network in the county?

  

The County Government is able to respond fast to needs and serve its citizens because of the programme. We witnessed this in Ol-Moran during insecurity time. We were able to address this by getting some critical security roads fixed. If we were to go through the contract route, it means the process would have been protracted.

  

Within the programme, we are also able to do Public-Private Partnership (PPP). In a scenario where we partnered with Ol Pejeta Conservancy to form a brigade to construct a road.

  

Today, we have over 50 people who have benefited from water pans to do irrigation. This is not possible without a leasing programme, as we save costs on gravel, we are leaving people with water pans.

  

What's the goal of the smart towns initiative and what is the progress so far?

  

To improve the business environment which will boost investment and the current working condition of the towns. We are focusing on upgrading and improving our infrastructure to have efficient drainages that are working, street lighting and to ensure there are green space areas creating business-friendly towns.

  

Smart towns aim to achieve efficiency of movement, improve the aesthetics of the towns while linking the roads to the market.

  

After completion of the Wiyumiririe phase I project, small supermarkets are coming up. That is the spirit of smart town - for enterprise development.

  

So far, we have done several smart towns such as Wiyumiririe phase I, Nanyuki, Nyahururu, and Oljabet. Nanyuki and Nyahururu are in this category since they were not previously smart town and we are making them smart and Oljabet is ongoing. With the approval of the infrastructure bond, we shall be rolling out the 10 smart towns.

  

How many km of roads have you upgraded in rural Laikipia?How does your department ensure high-quality work either by contractors and or under the leasing program?

  

The direct benefit of the quality of the gravel we are putting on our roads is slightly higher and better than what the contractors are doing.

  

Through the leasing programme, we are widening the roads and putting the right amount of gravel to maintain the proper thickness of the gravel so that the roads can last longer.

  

There has been an emphasis on drainage to ensure the roads are not damaged during the rainy season.

  

We have enough capacity with sufficient equipment developed over time to respond to the needs to deploy in large areas. We worked in the three wards concurrently. We had enough capacity developed over time to respond to the needs to deploy.

  

We are also involving contractors in training them on the bidding process. To date, we have trained more than 250 contractors. It is now a requirement that whatever job we advertise when you come for a Prebid, one has to go through mandatory training on standards.

  

What is the role of your department in the realization of the manufacturing agenda?

  

As manufacturing is a very keen sector for this government since the department is mostly involved in construction.

  

We have one entrepreneur who is making cabro by recycling waste. The department has had a discussion with him on improving its standard and getting certification from KEBS to give a go-ahead for mass production.

  

As a department, we are encouraging the use of locally-made construction products within our construction. Right now, the contractors who are working on our projects encourage them to buy products within Laikipia.

  

We are working on ensuring advertisement boards on streetlight posts are fabricated within Laikipia.

  

Where do you see Laikipia in the next three years in terms of communication and infrastructure development?

  

I see Laikipia becoming an attractive investment destination as we continuously roll out programmes such as Leasing, very soon most of our rural areas will be connected. There are areas that people cannot be able to access to farm at the moment, which will be opened up.

  

We will have very attractive urban centres as the right infrastructure will be in place. I am looking forward to when people will say, I do not need to open a business in Nyahururu as I can open it in Oljabet and bring business in the town while still making returns.

  

We are bringing development into the interior areas and it will no longer be concentrated in Nanyuki, Nyahururu or Rumuruti. Small towns will become business hubs for SMEs as infrastructure will be right in terms of smart towns.