Jitoni residents up in arms over deplorable state of road

Mombasa,

Monday, October 9, 2023

KNA by Sadik Hassan

Residents of Jitoni in Jomvu Sub-County are protesting the appalling state of the Jomvu Kuu-Jitoni-Rabai road.

The construction of the 12-kilometre road cutting across Mombasa and Kilifi Counties was launched by President Dr William Ruto in 2018 when he was Deputy President.

Residents want the contractor who has abandoned the remaining 3 km stretch to return to the site and complete all the remaining works before the onset of the forecasted El Nino rains.

According to the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), Construction to bitumen standards of the 11.7-kilometre Jomvu Kuu – Jitoni – Rabai Road is at 78 percent completion and the contract sum is Sh1 billion.

Associated Construction Limited is the listed contractor on the KURA website.

Local residents appealed to the government to bring the contractor on site for the remaining 3 km that have become a nuisance to be completed.

“During the rainy season the road is impassable, if a patient is being rushed to hospital it’s a nightmare. Most of our youths depend on bodaboda to make a living and have been left without jobs,” said Alwi Omar, a Jitoni resident.

Lonex Mwandangu said they expected the road to be completed on time to facilitate transport but the contractor only brought a motor grader to level the marram surfaces.

“Vehicles get stuck when it rains to the delight of thieves who take advantage to rob motorists and traders. Our traders have been affected as they incur extra costs to deliver goods to the shops. A product that goes for Sh50 is sold at double price in these harsh economic times,” said Mwandangu.

He added that their rental houses lack tenants because of the poor state of the road. Their locality he said has been vacated by tenants. “We want to know why the contractor left the site, we want our businesses to roar back to life,” he said.

On her part, Ngeli Mwasaru said when it rains they cannot take children to school because of the muddy road.

“Some of us got injuries when stuck in the muddy road. We have lagged in development, we are forced to close our businesses,” she said.

Jomvu Kuu MCA Joshua Mose said the road has been a nuisance to the residents as they approach the October-November-December rainy season. He said as a short-term remedy marram and a motor grader will be sent over by Jomvu MP Badi Twalib to level the road.

Courtesy; KNA