The Kisumu County government has cancelled the ongoing construction of roads citing poor work by contractors.
County Executive in charge of Roads Hanif Rana says the tenders were revoked after contractors failed to begin civil works six months after commissioning.
The directive affects Jaman Contractors limited, Bena General Contractors, Kaju Construction and Trading Company, Lwore Enterprise, Mwangaza Civil Works among others.
Speaking to the press at a Kisumu Hotel today, Kisumu Business Coalition Chairman Israel Agina questioned who awarded the tenders and how they were issued.
“The former executive in charge of the Roads docket Vincent Kodera said that only 120 out of the 270 projects rolled out last year have been completed. He further said that the 105 contractors will not get more works until their projects have been completed. He noted that there are ongoing projects that have stalled since they were awarded to unscrupulous contractors,” said Agina.
According to County Secretary Humprey Nakitare, investors have been piling pressure on the county government to complete major infrastructure projects that have slowed the growth of commerce in Kenya’s third largest city.
Speaking to this reporter from his office today, Nakitare said that the contracts, which mainly involve basic construction of infrastructure like classrooms and toilets in schools, hospital extensions and improvement of access roads, had delayed.
Agina questioned the criteria that was used to award tenders to the ‘scrupulous’ contractors saying that the county government is still to blame for the stalling infrastructure projects in the county.
At the same time, Hanif said better roads will be constructed in Kisumu County.
He said this is due to the state of some of the roads that are allegedly already in poor conditions.
Hanif attributed the poor conditions to shoddy work by unscrupulous contractors.