Kenha On The Spot After Financier Of Ksh 20 Billion Project Pulls Out

The Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) has lost the financier of a key infrastructure project in Nairobi, Nation reported.

International Development Agency (IDA) pulled out of the Ksh 20.4 billion deal over delays on the highway authority’s end.

The project dubbed, National Urban Transport Improvement, was to be fully financed by IDA and Kenha was only tasked with providing land.

In a report presented before Parliament, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu said the delays in acquiring the land forced IDA out of the deal.

“As a result of the withdrawal of the funding, there has been a delay in payment of works done resulting in delays in the completion of the project,” the report showed.

The auditor general noted that even though Kenha acquired the land in June 2021, the financier had already pulled out in 2018.

Gathungu also put Kenha on the spot for signing the agreement with IDA before acquiring the land, which is against the Public Finance Management Act.

The project which was initiated in 2016 involved the rehabilitation and capacity enhancement of the James Gichuru road junction to Rironi highway.

The multi-billion project would have taken four years; 36 months for completion and 12 months defects liability period.

The project began in 2017 and it would initially cost the financier Ksh 16.37 billion but it was later revised and additional works added bringing the total cost to Ksh 20.4 billion.

The new changes include introduction of retaining walls in line with urban roads design philosophy and reconstruction of major bridges instead of widening.

It also included changing the Rironi Bridge from one span to two and construction of the Gitaru full cloverleaf exchange.