The Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) has announced that project cost of the Sugarbelt Road traversing Kisumu, Nandi and Kericho counties has increased.
The authority revealed that the road, which had originally been budgeted to cost Sh4.9 billion, will now cost Sh15.8 billion. Kenha assistant director for corporate communications Charles Njogu confirmed the increased costs, adding that the project scope had been expanded to include several feeder roads.
“The figure we have given you is the actual project cost and you need to disregard any previous figure you had. The project now has more than just the road with various feeder roads to local towns, giving it an expanded scope,” said Mr Njogu.
Until last week, the project was set to start in mid-June and was expected to be launched during the celebrations held in Kisumu. However, Transport CS James Macharia said that the project, which had been split into three lots, had two lots pending approval by the Attorney General’s office.
Scope of work
“The project is divided into three lots and one, which is below Sh5 billion, does not require approval from the Attorney-General. The other two which are above that threshold are still awaiting approval from the AG’s office. If the project was not launched, it may be because it was not ready or the programme did not allow it,” said CS Macharia.
Construction works are expected to begin at the intersection with Kisumu – Kakamega (A1) road in Kisumu at Mamboleo and progress through Miwani, Chemelil, Muhoroni eventually terminating at Kapsitet junction, where it joins the Kericho -Kisumu road.
The road project entails resurfacing of the road to class II bitumen standard. Other improvements include the widening of the road to 11 meters, along with the construction of shoulders, culverts, drainage channels, passing lanes, bus stops, and access roads in urban centers. In some sections for example from the Mamboleo/A1 intersection to Great Lakes University, the road will be widened to a dual carriageway. A seven-metre single carriageway near the Great Lakes University section will also be constructed with two-metre wide shoulders along the entire stretch.
