Kenya roads network up for fresh inventory to aid planning

The government has contracted two consulting firms to carry out survey on the condition and length of roads across the country.

According to authorities, the objective of this multimillion survey is to create an inventory to help in planning for road maintenance and expansion.

Transport is a devolved function and in the advent of devolution more roads have been opened up in the rural and urban areas, prompting the survey.

The survey being undertaken in all the 47 counties began in August and will end in October 2017.

The project is a collaboration between the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) with funding support from the World Bank under the Kenya Transport Sector Support Project.

The consulting firms picked for the work are Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats PVT and SMEC International PTY.

“The specific objectives of the study are to establish an inventory and conditions of the narrow roads network in Kenya which is not captured in the KRB database, assign the roads numbers and collect he road condition data for the classified road network,” Benjamin Maingi, the general manager for planning and programming at the in the ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development said in a letter addressed to county executives in charge of Roads, Transport and Public Works.

The last time such a survey was done was in 2002 where it was established that the country had a 160, 886km of road network.

It is estimated that the country today could have more than 250,000 km of road network. 

Nakuru county executive officer in charge of Roads, Transport and Public Works Mr Joel Maina said the proposed survey will take into account roads with less than nine metres road reserve but not less than four metres.