Excitement builds in Mandera County over first tarmac road

Excitement is building in Mandera as the county starts the construction of its first ever tarmac road.

Governor Ali Roba said residents from all the sub-counties want to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the first ever tarmac road in the area since independence.

“Some of the residents have never seen a tarmac road and are happy the county government wants to achieve it in first year of devolution what the national government has failed for more than 50 years since independence,” Mr Roba said on phone.

The groundbreaking ceremony will take place on August 20, 2014.

Mr Roba said two contractors will construct several roads in Mandera town and they are expected to complete the work in 14 months.

Mandera has never had an inch of tarmac since independence due to years of marginalisation.

Apart from initiating bitumen standard tarmacking of Mandera town, the county government has also embarked in grading of all inter – constituency roads.

Mandera was in the news this week when a ministerial statement released in Parliament indicated that it has no tarmac road.

The statement showed that counties in northern Kenya have the lowest coverage of tarmacked roads while Nairobi and Central Kenya take the lion’s share of the 13, 655.5 kilometre network countrywide.

The statement presented by the House departmental committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing, showed that Nairobi County has 1,654.2 kilometres of paved roads. The larger Marsabit County has only two kilometres of tarmacked roads.

Mr Roba said his government is keen on reversing underdevelopment in the county.

“We want to ensure infrastructural development, improve on service delivery and help improve the standards of living of our people,” Mr Roba said.

The county government has already started construction of a 677 kilometre of murram road, the first of such major project in the region.

The construction of an international airport, which is supported by the national government, is to start in September.

Mr Roba, together with his executives, has been on a weeklong inspection of various projects initiated by the county government.

The projects under construction include county headquarters, county rest house, Early Childhood Development Training Centre, Mandera Moi Stadium and County Assembly.

Others are the governor’s residence, Technical Training Institute and Mandera District Hospital.

Already the Public Works and Town Council offices have been built.

Being the biggest of projects ever carried out in the county, the governor said his government will leave nothing to chance to ensure their success.