Economy

Work on Somalia border wall pushed to next week

Construction of a wall on the Kenya-Somalia border to contain infiltration by militants failed to take off in Mandera on Wednesday as earlier announced by the government.

There was no activity at the site with the heavy construction equipment still lying in Mandera Town.

An administrator in the county, who declined to be named on grounds he is not allowed to comment on the matter, said the construction was now scheduled to start on Monday.

County Commissioner Alex Ole Nkoyo had on Tuesday said that the construction of the wall would start the next day.

“There are surveyors already on the ground and any time from Wednesday we shall be starting the project which is to be undertaken by the government itself.

“The government has not contracted the project and the amount involved shall be known once the designers are with us anytime from Wednesday,” Mr Nkoyo said.

He said the wall was part of the government’s response to terror attacks by the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab militants.

“The government is building the wall mainly as a precautionary measure to ward off further encroachment on our territory by terrorists from Somalia,” he told the Nation.

However, Mr Nkoyo did not disclose how much the project would cost.

The county commissioner said the wall would prevent criminals from entering Mandera town and escape towards Bula Hawa town in Somalia. Mandera and Bula Hawa are about two kilometres apart.

Additional Reporting by Aggrey Mutambo

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