Investors in road projects to be compensated for damages by overloaded trucks

Police impound an overloaded truck along Waiyaki Way, Nairobi, on February 23, 2015. Road contractors under the annuity programme will be requited to monitor axle loads, assess any road deterioration and report the matter to the contracting authority. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU  

By ALLAN ODHIAMBO AND ANNIE NJANJA

In Summary

• The Transport ministry has kicked off the recruitment of independent engineers to help manage the project which will be implemented in three phases.

Investors building roads under the annuity programme will be compensated for damages caused by overweight trucks.

The government plans to tarmac 10,000 kilometres of roads across the country over the next five years under the annuity programme which is based on a finance-design-build-maintain and transfer contract model.

The Treasury will then repay the loans in equal instalments (annuity) over eight years, starting from the time the road section is completed.

The government plans to build 2,000 kilometres of small roads mostly in rural areas, within the current financial year ending in June, under the programme.

In the next fiscal year starting July this year, 3,000 kilometres made up of 80 per cent small roads and 20 per cent highways will be built. There are further plans to tarmac 5,000 kilometres of roads in the 2016/2017 financial year.

“The government will be responsible for axle load control along the project roads. However, the consortium shall be required to monitor axle loads along the contracted roads and shall assess any road deterioration specifically due to overloading and report to the contracting authority,” said the Roads ministry in a notice to investors eyeing the contracts.

Claims for compensation will be verified by an independent engineer, the ministry said, and a determination made on any compensation.

The projects are being implemented by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA).

They are intended to support the primary growth sectors of commerce, tourism, agriculture and rural production, and extractive industries.

The Transport and Infrastructure ministry on Thursday kicked off the recruitment of independent engineers to help manage the project which will be implemented in three phases and divided in lots.

“The consultancy services to be provided by the independent engineer shall involve monitoring compliance with the terms of the project agreement by the parties to the contract during the concession period,” the ministry said in a call for bids that closes on April 17.

The new road financing and construction model will double the fuel levy to as much as Sh18 a litre.

The Kenya Roads Board (KRB) recently wrote to the Treasury proposing a tax of Sh6 per litre of diesel and petrol as the road annuity levy and an addition of Sh3 per litre to go towards the fuel levy beginning July — effectively doubling of the fuel levy to Sh18 per litre of fuel.

KRB, which collects and manages Kenya’s road maintenance levy fund, reckons that the current levy charged at Sh9 per litre — which was set in June 2006 — is no longer feasible given the rise in raw materials, labour and transport costs, which has in turn increased the cost of building and maintaining the road network.

“We are likely to have an improvement in the fuel levy in the next financial year. We want a doubling of the rate and have already discussed with the Treasury,” Jacob Ruwa, executive director of KRB told the Business Daily in February.