This archive report was first published on 12 June 2020.
As the country continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kenyan government has allocated a significant portion of its development budget to the infrastructure sector. The Department of Infrastructure received Sh189.5 billion, a three percent increase from the Sh186.4 billion allocated in the current financial year.
The allocation is part of the country's development budget, which totals Sh584.3 billion. The Parliamentary Budget Office noted that infrastructure, together with State Departments of Water and Sanitation and Energy, accounted for more than half of the government's development spending.
Among the major roads the government plans to start building over the 2020-21 financial year include the Sh400 billion Mombasa-Nairobi expressway, Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Road, and the dualling of the Kenol (near Thika) – Marua (in Nyeri) road. The Ministry will also upgrade the old metre gauge railway between Naivasha and Malaba as well as build a connecting line between Naivasha and Mai Mahiu.
Dr. Samuel Nyandemo, an economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi, has expressed concerns that the country should have prioritized critical areas such as health and agriculture instead of infrastructure projects. He noted that such a move would have enabled the country to manage COVID-19 and hold the economy from collapse.
However, the Ministry of Transport has clarified that the 64 projects that had been allocated Sh8 billion had already been completed, and the funds were meant to offset financial obligations to contractors who had worked on them.
