By Habil Onyango
Newly appointed Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Mr. John Mbadi is gearing up for a battle to slay the pending bill dragon that has terrorized the country for ages.
The man from Suba is spitting fire and promising a titanic duel with the dragon that he believes by December this year, he shall have put to the grave.
The immediate former Orange Democratic Movement (ODM national chairman, the new biblical David has trained his eyes on the Goliath, the pending bill that has driven hundreds of Kenya’s business persons and families to a squalor.
Now Mbadi is promising that the State will spend Sh166 billion to pay roads’ pending bills and to allow work to begin on all the stalled road projects throughout the Country before the end of December 2024.
Mbadi said they already have a strategy in place to mobilize funds to enable them to pay the contractors and ensure they get back on site before December this year.
“The biggest challenge we have had in the Country is the poor funding structure for our roads where the contracts are awarded and there is no money to do the work,” said Mbadi.
“As the CS for National treasury my biggest job is to help President Willian Ruto to get funds to do development and to complete all the stalled projects,” said the CS.
Speaking in Migori the CS said it was poignant that when moving across the country, almost all stalled projects are mainly roads.
“I am going to make sure that I help the President get resources to resume the construction of stalled roads across the country and to ensure that the pending bills of Sh166 Billion for roads are paid and have the contractors back on site,” said Mbadi.
The former ODM nominated MP however revealed that a number of the stalled roads are in the Nyanza region.
In Suba constituency, where Mbadi was a former MP had witnessed the Sori-Gwasi-Mbita road stalled for over three decades with the subsequent government using it as a campaign chip.
He said the roads that the President promised to tarmac in the Nyanza region during his recent visit will also be allocated funds.
The construction of the 74 km Mbita-Sindo-Magunga-Kiabuya road has stalled since 2011 after the former contractor abandoned the work after only constructing a 7KM between Sindo and Mbita constituencies.
During his recent tour in Homa Bay, President Ruto revealed that the construction of the Sh2.9 billion road is ongoing since the contractor who had left is back on site.
A milestone-based method.
During his recent tour of the project, the director of the Presidential Delivery Unit Silvance Osele revealed that the government will use a milestone-based method to enhance speed and accountability in tarmacking the road.
The method involves paying the contractor upon completion of every 7.4 Kilometers of the link road which had suffered delay and abandonment during the era of the Jubilee government.
He said that the method will ensure that the government prudently use her funds only for completed works
Osele said in the past, a number of contractors have been taking advantage and abandon their works before completion after receiving full payments.
He said that this will see the government pay the contractor at least ten times since the road is 74 km long.
“We have devised a milestone-based method in this project where the contractor is paid after completing construction of every 7.4km in the road,” Said Osele
He said that already, the Government has awarded a new contracted China Civil Engineering Construction Company and the construction works are ongoing in the road which is expected to boost transport and communication in the region.
