Road
Motorists who ply Murang’a – Mugeka – Kiriaini road want the Kenya National Highway Road Authority (KeNHA) to urgently repair the destroyed section of the link road.
Destruction of an embankment of the road that links Murang’a and Nyeri county by heavy rains in April this year led to closure of the road between Murang’a town and Mahuaini area thus forcing motorists to use alternative routes.
A section of motorists who have raised their concerns to KNA decried huge costs they incur since the route they use is long and time-consuming. Matatu drivers complained that their profit has gone down drastically since the road they currently use is almost double in terms of kilometres as compared to the main road.
KeNHA closed the road near the post office area in Murang’a town so as to avert accidents after part of the road was affected by landslide. A matatu driver Joseph Karanja said since the closure of the road, KeNHA has yet to deploy engineers to repair the damaged section.
Closed section of Murang’a-Mugeka-Kiriaini road.
He observed that before the main road was destroyed, he used to make four trips between Murang’a and Kiriaini but currently he can only manage three trips. “The alternative road that is Murang’a –Gakonya-Kigetuini is very long. Our worry is we have not seen engineers on ground to repair the destroyed section of the road.
“I have used the Murang’a-Mugeka- Kiriaini road for 10 years as a driver but the alternative route which we are currently using is long, reducing the number of trips and also increasing the consumption of fuel.” said Karanja. He added the profit he currently makes dropped by more than 30 percent calling the government agencies responsible to urgently deploy workers to and repair the road.
According to Carolyne Njeri, a teacher who works in Kiriaini but lives in Murang’a town observed that the alternative route has made her job hectic as she has to endure the long journey every day, making her tired from sitting in the matatu for two hours.
When motorists used to ply Murang’a –Mugeka road, Njeri said she used to spend one hour to arrive at her destination. “The change of the route hiked fare from Sh150 to Sh250. This also causes suffering since it has increased our daily expenditure.” Added Njeri.
Also affected are the elderly and students of Mwirwa and Nyakiai areas as they cannot use matatu to access their home areas forcing them to either walk for nine kilometers or more, or board a motorbike which makes them spend more than Sh300.