More than Sh1 billion spent on upgrading parts of city roads for use under the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system to clear traffic snarl-ups could have been flushed down the drain after the government abandoned the project two years ago.
By December last year, BRT works valued at Sh3 billion had stalled, even as contractors demanded Sh1.9 billion payments from the government, the Auditor-General reveals in her latest report for the 2022/23 fiscal year on the collapsed project.
The audit on Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Namata) shows that while contractors had by January 2022 performed works valued Sh2.9 billion on the 27-kilometre BRT Line from Ruiru to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the government had paid only Sh1 billion.
“Due to the delays in payment for certified works the contractor abandoned works at all the sites for almost one year which resulted in the project falling behind schedule,” Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu notes.
Namata awarded the Sh5.57 billion BRT contract in July 2020 and it was initially hoped that it would be operational by February 2022.
It was a project that was tipped to help solve the traffic snarl-ups problem along busy city roads led by Thika Super Highway through to KNH by creating special lanes to be used by large capacity buses, but the government’s failure to fund it has left it abandoned.
“As of January, 2023, the total certified works amounted to Sh2,913,685,946 representing 52 percent of the contract sum out of which the contractor had been paid a total of Sh1,001,876,795 or 34 percent of the certified amount,” the audit notes.
It adds that while the project was to have three elevated U-turn ramps interchanges at Ruiru, Githurai and KNH, they have not been created as Namata is yet to acquire land for the proposed sites for the ramps.
The audit also notes that contractors had by June last year penalised the government more than Sh754 million on delays to pay for works that have already been done.
“Payments for certified works were delayed resulting to suspension of the works from 11 January, 2022. The firms raised Interim Payment Certificate (IPC) No. 05A being interest on delayed payments of Sh754,503,479 as disclosed under contingent liabilities,” the audit states.
By December 2023, the audit adds, BRT projects valued Sh3.09 billion had stalled.
“Further, there was no budgetary allocation for the project during the year under review, despite the fact that most of its certificates had not been fully settled. Delayed payment of certified works continues to attract more interests resulting to loss of public funds,” Ms Gathungu noted.
