I’ll pick up road projects where Uhuru left – Raila
The Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition government will build on achievements made by President Uhuru Kenyatta in the building of infrastructure across the country.
In his manifesto, Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga promised his commitment to upscale investment in road infrastructure to enhance accessibility, and linkages between production zones, industries and markets if he becomes president after the August 9 polls.
In the Azimio manifesto, Raila vows to commit more resources and identify innovative financial solutions to fund road development and maintenance.
He said his administration will introduce more efficient implementation modalities and build capacity of county governments to develop and maintain road infrastructure.
“Our government will adopt the most appropriate and efficient contracting methods, which provide for input and performance-based contracting for road maintenance works. We will deploy labour-based technologies such as hand-packed stone methods in contracting the construction and maintenance in urban and rural access roads to create jobs for the youth and women,” Raila says in his manifesto.
Regional corridors
The presidential candidate, whose main competitor is Deputy President William Ruto of UDA, undertakes to enforce, through the Roads Standards Board, standards for development and maintenance of all roads, to ensure quality, consistency and value for money.
“We will also develop missing cross-border regional corridors and linkages besides contracting contract development of road infrastructure only after preliminary preparatory activities have been completed,” said Raila .
He further vows to promote development of urban transport services that are integrated with urban land use in order to maximise accessibility.
“Our government will promote seamless multi-modal transport systems in major urban areas. We will also develop appropriate and efficient public transport services and upgrade urban transport infrastructure such as roads, rail, and terminal facilities,” the candidate promises.
Raila, who wants to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta, said Kenyans will enjoy developed non-motorised transport facilities such as pedestrian walkways and cycle-ways if he forms the next government.
He also promises to institute interventions to address issues of urban traffic pollution and climate change in order to build resilience alongside ensuring that street lights, sidewalks, boda boda lanes and bike lanes are permanent fixtures on Kenyan roads.
Raila outlined that his government would also promote multi-modal transport through integration of railway systems with other modes of transport, particularly road transport.
“We will also develop railway infrastructure to facilitate national and regional integration. Our government will further support the development of local capacity in planning, development and maintenance of railway infrastructure,” he adds.
Among other national infrastructural development, Raila pledges to expedite the implementation of the Mombasa, Lamu and Kisumu ports development plans including Dongo Kundu free port, Lamu port SEZ as Free Trade Zones (FTZ) and Kisumu port as SEZ 2.
“We will adopt new technologies to establish MSME led marine craft development programs along the shores of inland waterways like Lake Turkana, Lake Nakuru, Lake Baringo, Lake Naivasha and Lake Victoria,” he says in the manifesto.
Air transport
Raila also promises to deepen investments in the Kenya Shipyards Company and turn it into a regional ship building centre and invest and expand the capacity of institutions offering maritime and marine engineering studies and training to enable Kenya to be a global maritime resource.
His administration will modernise and integrate air transport infrastructure to maintain Kenya as the preferred aviation and commercial hub in the East, Central and Southern Africa, the manifesto says
“We will promote and support private sector-led investments in the aviation industry, develop air transport infrastructure to facilitate inter-county connectivity and restructure Kenya Airways to be a more strategic and sustainable national asset,” he states.
