KURA SIGNS US $132M DEAL FOR STALLED ROADS PROJECTS
The Kenya Urban Roads Authority has signed a US $132m deal with a consortium of Lee Construction Limited, Cape Construction and Moto Engil Africa for the construction and maintenance of stalled roads in Western and Central Kenya.
KURA Director General, Silas Kinoti said that the deal breathes a new lease of life for the Roads Annuity Program which has been facing a number of challenges mainly defined by inadequacy of financing partners.
The two PPP agreements will oversee the construction and maintenance of roads across ten counties. Under the new deal are Riamukurwe-Gatitu road in Nyeri County, Kanjuki-Mauktano road in Tharaka-Nithi and the Busia-Alupe bypass in Western Kenya.
The project that will cover 80-km of road will continue for the next decade. The government had an initial plan of completing 2000 km of road within the 2014/15 financial year.
Other key road projects highlighted under the Road Annuity Project include the dualling of the Nairobi-Mombasa highway with the commercial contract already in place, the second Nyali Bridge in Mombasa and the Nairobi-Narok-Mau Summit highway.
“Roads under construction currently stand at 6,400 km. Once we start the construction of a road; we are due to finish it. We hope to get to the 10,000 km mark over the next two years,” said Transport CS James Macharia.
Cognisant of the dependency of infrastructure financing on the annual budget, the Cabinet approved partnerships with the private sector in March 2015. This was done with the objective of developing and rehabilitating 10,000 km of road through long-term contracts.
“Despite of the evolving challenges, KURA remains keen on the private-public initiated financing reading benefits for contractors, bankers, consultants and equipment suppliers. We are confident that the lot of annuity projects will result in greater economic benefits to the beneficiary urban counties,” said Silas Kinoti.https://constructionreviewonline.com/2019/05/kura-signs-us-132m-deal-for-stalled-roads-projects/
