HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 385555,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/385555/?format=api",
"text_counter": 162,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "“roads”, we add “and rail roads” to cover the concerns of Sen. Wetangula and other speakers who have said that it is much more economical in certain places to do light rail roads. We have seen in many cities and counties, for example, Puerto Rico, the City of Sweden, Spain, Italy or The Netherlands, that the roads are made of stones, but at the same time, they have railways or rails on which street cars move. Now if we develop both roads and railroads, we shall give ourselves the very economic option of making sure that we do something that will last and help in the connectivity very effectively. Madam Temporary Speaker, in that regard, the Motion will read:- “THAT, noting with concern the skewed infrastructural development in Kenya, particularly in the road and rail road sector; aware that without suitable roads and railroads to connect all counties, the nation cannot meaningfully achieve the development goals envisaged in our Vision 2030; noting further that in his Presidential Speech on the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament on 16th April 2013, His Excellency the President promised the nation to “improve local roads so that our people can move freely across our nation;” the Senate resolves that the national government takes immediate steps to correct the skewed roads and railroads development in Kenya and requires the Department of Transport and Infrastructure to submit to the Senate through the Senate Committee on Energy, Roads and Transportation an annual report of roads and railroads development programmes covering all counties in Kenya, beginning July 2013 and projections for subsequent years.” Madam Temporary Speaker, as some of the contributors today – I think it was Sen. Wetangula and Sen. Kagwe - mentioned, the construction of roads is something that has seen tremendous technological improvement over the last couple of years, and distinguishing just between bitumen roads and earth roads is actually being stuck in the past. There are many more ways of making roads, as our colleagues have said, that we should look into; and we have plenty of raw materials for doing so in this country. This includes bricks, sand and so on. We have an institution in Industrial Area for doing research on roads. Some of these institutions should have given this knowledge and technology to the Government a long time ago. Therefore, if we use both roads and railroads, we shall tremendously reduce the cost of roads construction. Take, for example, Kisumu County, the tarmac road that was built many years ago from Muhoroni to Kisumu is completely broken down, and it is impossible to ride on. In fact, it would be better to remove the tarmac altogether and just leave the murram. So, at the moment, we have a nightmare travelling in the sugarbelt. Further, if you go into the sugarbelt, transporting sugar cane from the farms to the factory is impossible, because we use earth roads. When it rains – and of course, it rains a lot in the sugarbelt – there are a lot of problems. We know that when the Mehta Family ran the Miwani Farm, they used light rails to transport sugar cane from their farms to the factory. If you go everywhere, there is sugar economy, including Fiji and Brazil, you will find that the light rails are the ones used for transporting sugar cane from the farms to the factories. Now, that technology is available and has been improved upon. Therefore, if The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}