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"speaker_name": "Mr. Lesrima",
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"legal_name": "Simon Saimanga Lesirma",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The economic development of this country will depend very much on the development of infrastructure. It is for that reason that I must commend the Minister and his team for the work they have done so far. I also congratulate them for getting an increase of 59 per cent in their resources. Mr. Speaker, Sir, some time back, the Minister mentioned in this House that even if they had all the money with which to do the roads, given the backlog, the capacity to do the job is, simply, not there. Looking at our infrastructure today, particularly the roads sector, we could be categorised as being in a state of emergency. Sometimes I wish that the Ministry could be given an opportunity for a bit of flexibility in terms of implementation of the programmes in the roads sector. In the State of California, in the United States of America, which is affected by earthquakes, the procurement regulations are sometimes relaxed to enable faster implementation of repairs whenever earthquakes occur. I am told that contractors are even awarded projects with an incentive. They are told that if they complete the projects earlier than the time given, they would be rewarded. However, given our own situation here, I am sure that a number of people would say that we cannot allow that in Kenya because it will be corruption. It is about time that the Government was run just like any other business to get best value for its money. This brings me to the question of designs. I hope that with all this money that has been budgeted for, when the resources are made available, the Minister will be in a position to take off with steam, having done the designs already. We have been told that there is a constraint in availability of engineers. That is a very serious situation. One wonders where our engineers have gone to over the last ten or 15 years. They must have gone to the Southern African countries, where pastures are, perhaps, greener. We need to do something to increase the internal capacity of our engineers. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I raised an issue in this House last year with regard to my pet subject: the Rumuruti-Maralal Road, which was designed. It was in the books in the period between 1991 to 1994. It was top priority under the African Development Bank-funded projects. I was rather disturbed last year to learn that when the Ministry tendered for upgrading of the design for that road, there was no consultant in Kenya who turned up for the Kshs30 million project. It is very 2696 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 24, 2007 serious, indeed, that you can have Kshs30 million, and a road which donors are willing to fund, and have no consultant come forward to offer services. So, this constraint, in terms of availability of consultants, engineers internally and contractors locally, is an issue that the Minister must address. I am pleased that the Minister has proposed the establishment of the urban and rural authorities to be responsible for roads at the respective levels. I hope that once that law comes into place, we will move with speed to establish those authorities, so that they can be avenues for speeding up the implementation of programmes to reduce the backlog. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not know whether the Ministry of Roads and Public Works is still in charge of the enforcement of the axle load regulations, or whether this a matter for the Ministry of Transport. Looking at our excellent highway from Nairobi to Nakuru, the impression that one gets is that, that wonderful road is beginning to sink. This is something which has to do with the enforcement of the axle load regulations. Let me also talk about concern for pedestrians and cyclists. We need to incorporate in our road designs pavements and lanes for cyclists. Someone just needs to visit Moshi or Dar-es-Saalam in Tanzania to see that those facilities are in place. But as we enter most of our urban centres, we have to be extremely careful not to hit cyclists on the road. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the question of maintenance, I would like to encourage the Ministry to apply for more resources under the Roads 2000 Project. That is a good project. But it is not clear why that project is confined to high potential agricultural areas. I hope that areas that are not 100 per cent agricultural could also be considered. On the question of security on roads and airstrips, I believe that, that is an area that can be delegated to our armed forces. Our armed forces have the equipment. They are disciplined and have the capacity to operate in those difficult terrains. But with the assistance in designing some of the roads in some of those difficult areas, like where I come from in North Rift, the military could provide very useful service. That would ease the services that are offered by the Ministry. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}