AP officers watch as a bulldozer brings down a house under construction. Photo/Nation
Although I doubt the possibility of Kenya achieving all that has been envisioned in Vision 2030, I’m pleased the blue print recognizes roads development as a key driver to economic growth.
In deed I’m reminded of a popular saying that “where a road passes, development follows.” This statement, beyond all doubts, is valid.
The validity of the saying has been verified from the local level through the national level to the international level. Economic development is often delayed by poor infrastructure. Poor roads, for instance, lead to congestion on roads and delay in the delivery of important commodities.
An example of traffic congestion in Kenya can be seen in along Thika Road in Nairobi. Congestion on this busy road that serves vehicles from central and eastern parts of Kenya is partly due to an influx in the number of vehicles plying the route and partly due to disrepair and the huge number of round-about on Thika Road.
The pathetic situation of the Kenyan roads sees vehicles sometimes spending several hours in traffic jam. This usually leads to missed appointments, waste of fuel and communication credits. People spend time rescheduling appointments and some have even lost millions for not catching up with appointments.
The enclave nature of our rural areas also hinders the supply of food to urban areas and subsequent export. Thousands of tonnes of food products, for example are grown in the interior parts of Nyandarua District in the Central Province but the area is inaccessible. The poor state of the roads makes it difficult for farm inputs to get to the area and when these inputs get there their prices skyrocket.
But from another perspective, road side vendors – mostly newspaper men- increase their turnover during the congestion. Hawkers of fast-moving products definitely have time to better explain their products to clients blocked in the congestion, subsequently leading to increased sales.
In addition, usage of mobile phone airtime as people call their places of work and business associates to apologise for lateness leads to increase in the turnover of communication companies. However, the economic implication is a deficit return because what is generated is in no near commensurate to what is lost.
A Kenya without congestion is possible, but this depends on our commitment towards road network development. Traffic jams on our roads can be avoided and unnecessary waste of time and energy checked if we take road projects as matters of urgency.
Take the case where a road project is handled by one contractor who effectively works less than eight hours a day in a six-day working week. Completion time of the project could be reduced if it was given to two contractors willing to work 24/7 with unnecessary breaks observed. This would serve as a quick fix to the congestion on some of our major roads and perhaps take as closer to the envisioned Kenya.
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