Gatundu locals to get new bridge at risky crossover

Residents of Chania and Mang’u wards in Gatundu North, Kiambu county, will no longer have to risk lives walking across three planks of wood on Karimenu Dam as construction of a modern bridge that they have desperately been demanding from leaders finally began.

The pathway is a shortcut that was created by the residents as a means of having another route to travel from one ridge to the other instead of traversing kilometres away to seek services and do business.

For years, the residents have been using a narrow, wooden bridge cutting across the river.

But the residents can heave a sigh of relief after construction of a well-structured permanent walkway began.

At a cost of Sh800,000, the project that is being implemented by MCAs Joseph Kibuu and Patrick Mwangi of Chania and Mang’u wards, respectively, will serve Gatukuyu, Muirigo, Mang’u, Kairi and other villages.

According to Kibuu, the bridge has been at the centre of politics every electioneering period as leaders use it to galvanise support by residents with promises to have it done only to ignore the project after their election.