Presidents decision to suspend projects will not affect roads CS Macharia

Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has pointed out that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to suspend government projects will not affect the ongoing ventures at the road sector.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s Day Break Show, the Housing, Infrastructure and Urban Planning CS was adamant to point out that ongoing road projects will not come to a premature standstill.

“Most projects were started in 2013 with the president initiating the projects of constructing 10,000 Kilometers of road.  These projects have been ongoing for the last five years,” said Macharia.

“Out of the intended target, we have completed about 8,500 kilometers; therefore the road sector is unlikely to be affected by the Presidents’ decision.”

According to the CS, the presidents’ decision does not mean that every project must come to a halt.

“The president said that projects are suspended but if a project is to be initiated, special approval from either the PS or CS of the National Treasury is required,” said Macharia.

“He didn’t say all projects must come to a halt but that special approval is required especially for projects in the Big Four.”

In addition, Macharia defended the proposed idea of constructing the Nairobi-Mombasa expressway even with the presence of the Standard Gauge Railway.

“Every year we receive around 30 million tonnes of cargo in Mombasa. The SGR has an upper limit of about 24 trains coming from Mombasa that will be able to handle about 15 to 18 million tonnes of cargo,” said Macharia.

“This means that 50% of cargo will still have to come by road and therefore we shall still need road transport.”

The CS further enforced the notion of constructing the Nairobi –Mombasa expressway a new rather than rehabilitating the already established route.

“We assessed two options, rehabilitating the road or having a new alignment all together. Doing a new alignment was actually much cheaper in terms of utilities such as power lines,” Macharia said.

“The road is also very busy and if you start rehabilitating such a road there will be major chaos in terms of cargo and traffic coming to Mombasa. We agreed that a new alignment would not interfere with utilities and human settlement.”

Macharia also expressed his joy after Kenya received a certification from the Aviation Authority which means Kenyan airlines will be allowed to fly to Europe and the Americas.

“We got a ranking of 78% against the global average of 62%. We are happy that we have sustained positive achievements,” said the CS.

“If we had gotten a low ranking yesterday Kenya Airways would not have taken off in October to the US. All Kenyan carriers would have been prohibited from flying to the US and this was a big achievement for us.”