Economy

Rural roads get priority in funding formula review plan by agency

CASH

The rural authority got Sh13 billion in the year ended June from the Fund mainly built through the fuel levy — which is Sh18 for every litre of fuel and diesel consumed. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Kenya Roads Board (KRB) has proposed a review of the formula for allocating funds in fresh attempts to expand road coverage in rural areas.

If MPs approve the Kenya Roads Bill 2017, the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kurra) will receive the highest increase from the current 21.8 per cent to 28 per cent of the road funds.

This means that the annual allocation to rural roads will rise to 19 billion given the Kenya Roads Board Fund is set to get Sh68 billion in the current financial year, up from Sh60 billion in the year ended June.

The rural authority got Sh13 billion in the year ended June from the Fund mainly built through the fuel levy — which is Sh18 for every litre of fuel and diesel consumed.

The National Assembly’s Special Funds Account committee says the KRB board has made proposals to review the allocation criteria as contained in the amendments to the Kenya Roads Bill, 2017. Kathuri Murungi, who chairs the committee, says the KRB is proposing to reduce the share of allocation to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) from the current 40 per cent to 35 per cent.The board also seeks to reduce funding to Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) from 10.2 per cent to 10 per cent. The allocation to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) will remain at one per cent. County Government share will rise by one per cent to 16 per cent of the total allocation to KRB and will be shared equally among the 47 county governments.

KRB’s allocation for operations will be maintained at the current two per cent while allocations to KRB/Cabinet Secretary priority projects will be cut from 10 per cent to seven per cent.

“The committee observed that the KRB did not have adequate information on utilisation of 10 per cent allocation to priority projects by the Cabinet Secretary. “The committee recommends that proposals made to the Cabinet Secretary on priority projects be availed to the KRB to enhance transparency and accountability,” Mr Murungi said in a report on the scrutiny of KRB’s audited financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2017.

The committee says KRB disburses monies received in the Fund and that the audit reports on the entities that receive cash are examined by the Public Investments Committee (PIC). of the National Assembly while those allocated to county governments (15 per cent) are examined by the respective committee of the Senate.

“The committee recommends that the respective committees of Parliament mandated to examine audited financial statements for institutions that receive moneys from the Kenya Roads Board Fund ensures timely examination of the reports of the Auditor General to ensure accountability of the funds,” Mr Murungi said in a report that is scheduled for debate Tuesday morning.