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{
    "id": 1473653,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1473653/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 318,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chirchir",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13110,
        "legal_name": "Zipporah Jepchirchir Kittony",
        "slug": "zipporah-jepchirchir-kittony"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I was basically putting the fundamentals that the total value of the public road asset countrywide has been established by the road sector investment programme 2023-2027 to be at Kshs4 trillion today making it one of the biggest public investments in Kenya. This massive investment in the road sector asset which has been built up painstakingly over the years has been diligently maintained, protected and preserved to ensure it preserves the citizens well while achieving maximum service life, Return on Investment (ROI) and value for money. The road maintenance levy fund was established in 1993 to provide sustainable resource for the required road maintenance and has since been adjusted from time to time per needs. The last adjustment was in 2016, eight years ago, when the fuel levy was set at Kshs18 per litre. However, by 2024, an unsustainably large financing gap had emerged between the cost of essential road maintenance and the resource collected from the Kshs18 levy. Madam Temporary Speaker, Sir, by way of example, from the 2024/2025 Financial Year, the cost of essential road maintenance activities for national roads is Kshs157 billion. That is what we need annually. However, the anticipated fuel levy collection for the same financial year was only Kshs79 billion, leaving a deficit of Kshs78 billion. The causes and drivers of this maintenance fund gap are grouped for convenience into three categories, namely, changes in the road network in terms of length, microeconomics factors and maintenance needs of the road network. Allow me to briefly describe each of the causes in a little more detail. The contributions to the financing gap which are related to the changes in the road network include increasing the total road network length from 161,000 kilometres in 2016 to about 239,000 kilometers in 2024. Growth in the length of paved road network by 47 per cent between 2016 and 2024, with 25,000 kilometres paved as of 2024. An ageing road network, the existence of a large backlog in road maintenance, including, own-Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) paved roads which have lacked earmarked maintenance funding and are, therefore, referred, as you have heard many times, as orphaned roads. Increased urbanisation and the need for more maintenance in the urban environment: Increased traffic growth and the climate change that we have all witnessed in the various El Ninos and droughts. The contributors to the financing gap which are related to macroeconomics factors include stagnation of the road maintenance levy, like I have mentioned, at Kshs18 for the last eight years, a decline of road maintenance levy due to real-time value or due to inflation and yet, we do not have the inflationary build-up. Rising cost of road works over the time due to inflation. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}