AFD, EU to invest 1.5 billion in roads in Tharaka Nithi

Tharaka Nithi County is among the six counties set to benefit from the Climate Proofed ASAL Rural Roads Project.

The road rehabilitation project which was conceptualized in 2017 is set to improve mobility and access to Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) counties of Tharaka Nithi, Meru, Isiolo, Laikipia, Marsabit and Samburu, enabling the communities easily market their agriculture and livestock products through improved accessibility.

The upgraded roads are also set to improve access to specific county headquarters as well as other social amenities and will additionally be designed to be climate proofed, to increase resilience to climate shocks such as flooding and drought.

According to Egis Kenya representative Jacob Ruwa during a consultation tour in the county on Tuesday, the project is financed by a concessional loan of EUR 60 million from the French Development Agency (AFD) and a grant of EUR 30 million from the European Union (EU), where KShs 1.5 billion is set to be invested in 81 km of road in Tharaka Nithi County.

The project in its conceptualization was set to upgrade a total of 1280 km of roads in the six counties to all weather standards and improving 139 km to bitumen standards but will have a total length of road network to be improved to all weather road at 800 km.

In the county, 27 km are set for tarmac standard while 54 km will be upgraded to all weather gravel standard.

The project will include Marima-Makutano road, Materi-Kamarandi-Kamanyaki road and Kibugua-Itugururu-Kamaindi road.

During the consultation visit, Governor Muthomi Njuki noted the decision to table the three roads for upgrading was reached at in an aim to balance the three constituencies making up the county and connect them to the county headquarters at Kathwana.

According to Njuki, major roads such as Chuka-Kaareni, Chiakariga-Marimanti and Keria-Magutuni missed out on the project since they were already in progress under other programs.

With the decision by the donors to use labor-based technology to upgrade the roads, the governor openly opposed the decision, proposing the use of machine-based technology due to its efficiency and effectiveness as seen in previous projects.

“We have learnt from previous experiences on the use of labor-based technology with the same donor (EU) on projects such as Chuka-Kaareni road which had stalled for years. Let the donors know that we prefer machine-based technology since it will be impossible to advise the county government in consultation with other leaders on the use of labour-based technology on our roads”, he said.

The governor in his address also noted that there were talks and plans in place to develop Itugururu Airstrip, that needed to be implemented in the next two years.

According to him, new KCAA guidelines required an airstrip have 1.5 km of runway space, and plans were underway to extend the already 800 m in place by buying land from locals through compulsory acquisition.