10,000km roads plan bidders protest oversight by independent engineers
Workers repair a section of the King’orani Road in Mombasa. The government plans to build 10,000kms of roads. PHOTO | FILE
A decision by the government to involve independent engineers in the planned construction of roads under the annuity programme has triggered protests by firms eyeing the job amid concerns over the cost of maintaining them.
The Transport and Infrastructure ministry said it will contract independent engineers to ensure compliance with contract terms in the planned tarmacking of 10,000 kilometres of roads across the country.
“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 last week said in a call for bids from interested independent engineers.
Correspondence seen by Business Daily showed that the decision by the government has however rattled many firms eyeing the job amid claims that the inclusion of the independent engineers would eat into their margins.
“The service provider has an obligation to operate and maintain requirements of the road network for a period of eight years. This is sufficient incentive to ensure compliance with the client requirements and adoption of appropriate standards,” one of the bidding firms said in a letter to the ministry.
The cost of the independent engineers will be drawn from the contracted sum of the roads project, according to plans by the ministry.
Many firms eyeing the annuity roads project proposed that payments for the independent auditors be drawn from a special sum included in the contracts to be signed with the government.
“Similarly, payment of the auditing body could be paid by the service provider and reimbursed by the contracting authority by increasing the annuity payments once the scope and cost of the auditing body is ascertained during contract negotiations. Alternatively, the contracting authority could meet the full cost of the auditing body,” one of the letters to the ministry read in part.
The mega roads project will be implement under the annuity programme that is based 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.
Under this programme, the government plans to build 2,000 kilometres of small roads mostly in rural areas, within the current financial year ending in June. This deadline may not be met given the short time left to end of the financial year.
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 projects are being implemented by the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) and are intended to support the primary growth sectors of commerce, tourism, agriculture and rural production, and extractive industries.
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