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{
    "id": 501167,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/501167/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 346,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Onyura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12833,
        "legal_name": "Michael Aringo Onyura",
        "slug": "michael-aringo-onyura"
    },
    "content": "amended. I thank hon. Gakuya for bringing it up. He has made a very valid case. In fact, if anything, I think this Motion is very much overdue. The wananchi who use this road have suffered for a long time and I think they just needed somebody to highlight this for them. So, thank you very much Mheshimiwa . The issue of congestion on Jogoo Road needs to be addressed very urgently. It has been there for some time as we all know; it is a very wasteful thing. Economically if you cost the wastage in terms of time lost, man-hours lost and the fuel lost, I think this will run into millions of shillings; resources that we can hardly afford to waste. I think it needs to be addressed so that travelling can be fast and smooth and we save money on it. As we address this, the whole question of congestion on our roads needs a clear, consistent systematic and well planned approach. You will notice, and we are quite grateful for the effort that is being put in terms of opening the bypasses, in terms of what has happened about Thika Superhighway, it looks like the number of vehicles seems to be rising at a much faster rate than the efforts that we are putting in. Even now, most times you find the Superhighway is very congested. We need to quicken our pace in opening and decongesting these roads. I also want to commend hon. Gakuya for pointing out about the idle land. For 50 acres of land in the middle of Nairobi; the Government or somebody needs to move very quickly otherwise we have very unscrupulous land grabbers and people just looking around for any idle space so that they can play all manner of tricks to acquire it. For this one, perhaps, it is just a matter of time. The reason why I am supporting the Motion as amended is that, even as we do the road, modernize and expand it, the other services that go along with it, like the bus park that has been mentioned--- That bus park is long overdue for expansion and modernization. If you are going through that bus park to meet visitors, it is impossible. Going in and coming out or getting your direction or getting the vehicles that you want is a mess. So, it really needs very urgent action as well. As we do these things, we need to look at long term strategic plans for not just this particular road. This is just an example of the many roads, not only in Nairobi. This problem is now in nearly every city you go to. In Kisumu, between the town centre and the airport or between Ahero and the town centre, we are already starting to experience this problem. If you go to Mombasa and many other cities, it is the same problem. So, what we should be doing as we are addressing this one is that we should have a nationwide approach so that this congestion is addressed in all the cities and towns. We need to have long term planning. I really want to support what the Member for Mukurweini said about classification of these roads. There is a lot of confusion that we are experiencing as a result of not being sure who is supposed to handle which road, particularly in the rural areas. We need to let the stakeholders and those concerned like the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing and the departments that are concerned come up with a proper classification so that we are able to know the different levels that are supposed to maintain or open certain types of roads. That way, when we are allocating money we are able to know that we are doing it based on certain standards of roads that we expect and the lengths of those roads. That kind of classification is very important. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}