The Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) was on Wednesday, February 15, pressured to alter road designs in the country to allow the setting up of social amenities.
Senators pushed KeNHA to build road reserves on all highways in the country to help curb cases of road crashes and enhance emergency services.
Led by Nyeri Senator Wahome Wamatinga and his Mombasa counterpart Mohamed Faki, they argued that building of road reserves would help the government set up social amenities such as satellite medical clinics, fire trucks and ambulances.
Besides setting up the social amenities, senators explained that KeNHA would work with the Council of Governors to lease some sections of the road reserves to investors.
Leasing would be made possible through the development of Public Private Partnership (PPP) guidelines by the Ministry of roads to attract investors and finance the construction of the amenities.
Defending the move to change highway designs, Wamatinga and Faki argued that building road reserves and setting up social amenities was key to addressing problems emanating from road accidents.
"67 per cent of road crash fatalities and injuries in the country comprise of the economically productive age groups of 15 - 64 years, and that the importance of good post-crash care reduces deaths and disability and the suffering for road crash survivors creates the urgent need for effective emergency medical care system elements and processes on our highways," the motion presented by the two senators read in part.
"Lives and properties are lost or irreparably damaged daily on major highways in the country due to accidents and explosion of fuel tankers, and the lack of accessible roadside amenities such as medical clinics, rescue centers, fire engines and ambulances hamper efforts to mitigate the carnage caused by the accidents, rescue lives and put out fires," the senators further argued.
Wamatinga and Faki maintained that adopting the changes on Kenyan highways was key to helping the country expedite emergency services.
They further noted that the road reserves would help the government raise funds which could be used to repair and maintain different highways.
The proposed changes have been implemented on some Kenyan roads including Mombasa Road and Thika Super Highway.
The senators want the changes implemented on busy highways prone to road accidents, such as Nairobi- Nakuru Highway, Nakuru-Eldoret, Nairobi- Meru stretch and Kisumu- Kakamega Highway, among others.
