Pathetic state of the 400 metres road in Thika leading to the industrial hub have raised concerns with the local traders calling on the government to move fast and rehabilitate it.
The pathetic state is an eye sore to the investors who pay licenses to Kiambu county government and other government agencies despite the poor state of the major road connecting the industries and Thika Garissa highway.
The road connects Thika’s National Cereals of produce Board (NCPB) depot, IEBC warehouse,Supa Loaf Bakeries, Fair Nut company, among other industries. The traders led by Mr Johnson Kihara calls on the transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen to come to their rescue after the local agencies have ignored the road in the past four years.
“Kiambu county government and Thika town leadership have failed to provide the solution as trucks coming for goods from the industries get struck in the mud during the rainy days,” said Kihara.
The trucks despite lack of parking bay pay Kiambu county government per Sh400 per day. At NCPB, there is a government weighbridge, he said, which has remained under utilised as the trucks are forced to seek for the service in the privately owned facilities located at a distance.
Mr James Gituku, a coffee farmer from Kandara, say the poor state of road has forced hundreds of farmers to shy away from collecting their bags of subsidided fertiliser. “One can’t risk his or her vehicle in this state of the road, am yet to collect my fertiliser from the NCPB depot due to the state of the road,” said Gituku.
Truck drivers led by Josia Were appealed to the government to come to the rescue of Thika people, as the state of the road has forced many of the long-distance truck drivers to abandon Thika.
Were is among the drivers hired by Ministry of Education to ferry relief food to schools in Turkana and West Pokot counties.
” Many of the trucks are stuck in mud at the NCPB depot owing to the poor roads as the county government collects a daily parking fee of Sh400,’ said Were.
Another driver George Ngera, from Meru said his vehicle was transporting macadamia nuts to the Thika based nut processing factory and got stuck along the 400 metres road owing to the deep potholes.
“Now I am staring at a major loss after my vehicle developed a mechanical problem as I transported tonnes of macadamia nuts for processing thus need to speed more than Sh10,000 for repair,” Ngera told the County Times team.