Roads win big in Uhuru last Budget
By Kiplangat Jeremiah, April 8, 2022
Roads construction was one of the biggest winners in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s last Budget as his government continued to allocate billions of money for the sector.
The President has been praised for pumping billions of shillings into road projects across the country since coming into office in 2013.
His administration has often claimed it has paved over 10,000km of roads in the nine years it has been in office.
Yesterday, Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ukur Yatani continued with the trend of allocation of billions to the sector, capturing the Jubilee’s government’s persisting interest in roads construction.
Railway transport
“Towards this end, I have proposed an allocation of Sh212.5 billion to support the construction of roads and bridges as well as their rehabilitation and maintenance,” said the CS.
The multi-billion shilling Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) also got a big boost as more funds were allocated for expansion to the rest of the country after construction stopped in Naivasha for lack of funds.
“ To expand railway transport to the rest of the country, I have proposed Ss18.5 billion for development of the SGR, Sh1.1 billion for Railways Metro Lines and Sh439 million for rehabilitation of locomotives,” Yatani revealed.
The Treasury also gave the Energy sector more billions for connecting more people to the national grid.
“To support the production of reliable and affordable energy, I propose a total of Sh91.5 billion excluding the provisions set aside under the “Big Four” Initiatives. development of nuclear energy as well as exploration and mining of coal,” he said.