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"id": 242531,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/242531/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Awori",
"speaker_title": "The Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 290,
"legal_name": "Moody Arthur Awori",
"slug": "moody-awori"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to contribute to this Vote. I want to congratulate the Minister for the able way in which he moved the Vote. But above all, I would like to thank him for having mobilised his troops. We now see many activities in road construction. Earlier, it had been stated that in order to rehabilitate and set up a good road network, we needed about Kshs100 billion. This afternoon, the Minister is asking for Kshs45 billion. That is almost 50 per cent of what was required. Frankly speaking, that is a very encouraging move. It simply means that the following year, if we get another Kshs45 or Kshs50 billion, then we will have concluded the rehabilitation and construction of main roads that we need in this country. However, the first thing we should look at is the cost of tarmacking and building up to standard roads. An earlier contributor said that in neighbouring countries, it costs about Kshs11 million to construct a kilometre of road. However, even if we assume that figure is low, we should not allow the cost to go as high as Kshs20 million for a kilometre. If we talk about spending Kshs40 million to Kshs60 million to construct a kilometre, I do not know how long it would take us to construct our roads to the required standards. I am conscious of the fact that the Minister has allocated Kshs300 million for the construction of Bumala-Port Victoria Road. If the construction of a kilometre is currently at Kshs40 million to Kshs60 million, then I do not think the construction will get anywhere near my home. I appeal to the Minister to ensure that we find a way of reducing the cost of reconstructing roads up to the required standards. Previously, we have allocated money, many times, to gravelling of various roads. Some of the roads are in areas where the rains are very heavy, for instance, in Kisii. If you allocate Kshs200 million to construct a 50 kilometre road and you spend the money on that, when the rains come, the whole road is washed away. I am suggesting that we now concentrate on areas that receive heavy rains. It should not be a question of gravelling, but that of tarmacking roads. That should be cheaper because if over a period of over 10 years, you spend Kshs200 million at the end of each year on reconstruction, then the road is washed away, at the end of it, you would have spend billions and would still have no road to be proud of. Besides construction of roads, we want to really put a lot of emphasis on maintenance. We must find a way in which we can have the word \"maintenance\" in our vernacular languages so that we can understand the importance of maintenance. In the past, I remember that we used to have maintenance units and there were camps after every 50 miles. After some miles, there used to be a maintenance camp with people who were there to ensure that a 50 miles section was properly maintained. We would like that the units be reintroduced so that we do not repair, but maintain our roads. We should not wait until a road cracks before we take responsibility for it. Without a good road network, you cannot have economic growth. We need a good road network in order to reduce the cost of production. If we have to compete in the COMESA market or in other markets, we need a good road network to move the goods at a lower cost. We spend a colossal amount of money importing spare parts. This is simply because our roads are not as good as they are supposed to be. In addition to roads, in a country as vast as Kenya, we should have over 400 airstrips all over the country. We need to maintain the airstrips, so that we can reduce transportation costs especially for hon. Members so that they can be able to access wherever they want to be. The Constituency Development Fund is a revolution which has helped this country considerably. However, there is a way that the money is not used in a cost effective manner. In my constituency, there is a school which we asked the Ministry of Roads and Public Works, not only to help in designing, but also in building. We then used the Ministry of Roads and Public Works to get the bills of quantities. The construction of the school cost about Kshs5 million, while we had built July 18, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2139 a similar school, not more than six months earlier, and it did not cost us more than Kshs2 million. We need to look at how the Ministry of Roads and Public Works come up with the bills of quantities because they are far much in excess. We have various parts of Kenya that need to be connected. One is the South Coast in Mombasa. We have talked, for many years, about bridging the Likoni channel. With all the technology available, how come we have not managed to look into the issue? We have to make concerted on efforts to build either a tunnel or a bridge. There are bridges all over the world spanning as far as five or six kilometres. That channel is not that wide. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I request the Ministry of Roads and Public Works to look into that very seriously. We need to look at the issue of concessioning our roads. Let us get people who are prepared to take a particular road, design and construct it. Let them operate like a factory. Let them charge a certain amount of money to recover what they will have spent on the road. That is one of the many ways forward. Again, we scatter major resources without being very effective. It is good to select particular roads in various places and construct them to high standards. Finally, I want to support the hon. Member who spoke about the bumps. Frankly, this is the only country that has bumps on roads. When we design roads, we know what kind of traffic we expect to use them. If we want to erect bumps, let them be erected at the time of construction. We should not wait until roads are constructed and then, overnight, start erecting bumps on them. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}