Kakamega Commissioner warns against illegal sand harvesting, road encroachment

Kakamega County Commissioner Meru Mwangi has warned against sand harvesting along road reserves.

Speaking during an inspection of road projects under the Annuity programme, the County Commissioner asked Chiefs and their Assistants to ensure the harvesters mine sand in designated areas that do not pose danger to residents.

At the same time, he warned road encroachers to move from road reserves to pave way for road construction and maintenance.

He said action will be taken against the encroachers while also asking contractors to closely monitor the roads against destruction by heavy duty trucks ferrying ballast and other construction materials.

The commissioner was speaking after inspecting Lutonyi-Kakamega and Ilesi-Kakamega roads which are part of the programme meant to design, construct and maintain roads in the country.

In Kakamega town, the annuity programme targeted Kakamega-Ilesi road a 7.6 Kilometer road and the Lutonyi-Kakamega road which is a 3 kilometer road whose upgrade begun on February 16, 2022 and completed in February 2024.

The two roads totaling to 10.6 Kilometers are part of the 80 Kilometers countrywide road annuity programme being undertaken by the government at an approximately Sh. 35billion.

The Western Kenya Deputy Director of Kenya Urban Roads Authority(KURA) Daniel Nderitu said in the programme, the construction of roads is undertaken by a consortium who designs, constructs and maintains the roads through the Performance Based Contracting Maintenance for a period of 8 years.

He however noted that despite the completion of the road construction, some people who were asked to move to pave way for the upgrade of those roads and received compensation have started encroaching into the road corridor.

“We have agreed with the county commissioner that we will identify those who are getting back on road corridor and do letters to them to request them to move back within a certain period, after which we will be forced to move them back because they are already compensated,” he noted.

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