Road Surveys
LOKICHAR TO LOKICHOGIO VIA LODWAR TOWN
- Lokichar – Loichang’amatak
Upgrading of the approximately 40.8km unpaved road section has since began, progress at 31%. Completion projected for early 2023 - Loichang’amatak – Lodwar (50km)
Project app. 95% complete with signs, road marking and furniture partially done. Service and access roads in Lodwar town in progress. - Lodwar – Lokitaung’ Junction (80km)
Road section fully paved, in ‘excellent’ condition and has since been taken over by the client. Road signs and furniture fully installed. Lorry parking facility at Lodwar app. 75% complete. - Lokitaung’ junction – Kalobeyei River (80km)
Project app. 85% complete. Surface dressing, road marking and furniture not done. Service roads and truck parking at Kakuma also outstanding. - Kalobeyei River – Nadapal (77.2km)
Project 80% complete. Service, access roads and truck lay by at Loki ongoing.
KeNHA reported that they have five contractors working on the road.
Quite a number of sections of the road have been done to the bitumen standards.
Roadside Station
Construction of the roadside station is underway.
The project is being done by KeNHA and is at 75% to its completion.
KAPENGURIA – KAINUK – LOKICHAR ROAD
The Kapenguria – Lokichar road is tarmacked and looks good.
Observations
1. Road looks narrow
2. No road shoulders
3. Widening of the road to 7metres carriage way and 2metres each side for road shoulders needs to be done.
Brief by KeNHA
Proposed Roadside Rest Stations
1. Pavements and re-alignments are in the pipeline.
2. Finances have been secured from KFW and ADB Bank who are development partners.
The survey team proposed Chepareria and Morpus which are located few kilometres apart, KeNHA and Northern Corridor will pick one as RSS.
NTSA Proposal
NTSA said that all the proposed Roadside Rest Stations must have;
i) Accident Rescue Centres
ii) Vehicle inspection units incase of accidents.
NTSA also complained of the fake road crash barriers which are erected too close to the road shoulders which do not allow drivers to navigate back to the carriage way in cases where a driver loses control of the vehicle.
NTSA also indicated that such barriers no longer prevent accidents as vehicles will always go through them so easily.
Kainuk – Lokichar stretch
Construction of Kainuk Bridge and approach roads has since been completed
Major scope of works include;
1. Construction of Kainuk bridge and approach roads approximately 2km on either side
2. Service/auxiliary lanes at Kainuk shopping centre with elongated lay bys
3. Provision of non motorized traffic (NMT) facilities such as pedestrian crossings and crossing slabs
4. Provision of road furniture including street lighting, road signs, guardrails and kerbstones.
Roadside Rest Station
KeNHA has a 14 acre land at Kainuk shopping centre which is ideal for RSS.
KPA also has a 20 acre land for construction of Rapid Response Unit (RRU) offices and staff quarters.
Northern Corridor Transit Patrol Unit also requested KRA to consider giving them an office in the site.
Summary
- Leseru – Kitale – Morpus – Lokichar road stretch will be done by ADB as a development partner, consultant is already is already secured and financing is ready.
- Kainuk – Nakidok stretch will is under Eastern Africa Regional Transport Trade and Facilitation Project ( EARTTFP)
WEBUYE – KIMAETI – LWAKHAKHA BORDER
The team comprising of Northern Corridor, KPA, KMA, KRA, URA, KeNHA, NTSA, KTA, KIFWA, LAPSET, Northern Corridor Police and Ministry of Transport visited the Weighbridge and we’re briefed by the weigh ridge officials.
1. Weighing of trucks
The officials said that they only weigh trucks of 3 tonnes and above and have no interest on vehicles weighing less than that.
Trucks are weighed in motion and those with green light are cleared to proceed, only those with red light are diverted to the static weighbridge for confirmation of the loads.
2. Tolerance weights
The Weighbridge officials stated that Trucks with 200Kgs on GVW and 500Kgs on Axles are left to proceed without penalties.
Fine Payments at the weighbridge
KTA raised issues on:
- Payment Modes: Need to expedite on the process of Mpesa payments.
- Real time alert to transporters on overloads at various weighbridges ( both virtual and static)
KeNHA was called upon to ensure these are done to facilitate fine payments and also for purposes of settling overload matters.
Calibration of weighbridge scales
This is done by Weights and Measures from Bungoma.
NORTHERN CORRIDOR POLICE
The police pointed out that whenever they arrest drivers siphoning fuel, transporters would then call to secure release of those drivers by saying they will internally deal with those drivers.
They also suspected drivers to be colluding with criminals along the corridor to commit crimes.
RRU/KRA ( RECTS)
On matters RECTS, KTA raised concern on:
- Removal of trucks numbers plates
- Vehicles charged for making a turn-back (facing where it has travelled from)
- Harassment by KRA officials who do not identify themselves.
In their explanation, KRA pointed out that by removing the plates this would prevent further movement of the truck and also to cushion the transporter from being charged with another offence.
On Identification KRA concurred and agreed this is in order while on turnback, with proper explanation, they have no issues.
VISIT TO LWAKHAKHA BORDER
This journey was led by KeNHA as the lead Agency; they took the team through the map on how the construction is intended to be enroute to Lwakhakha Border. The Road Survey team left Webuye and drove quite some kilometres before making a right turn at Kimaeti.
Observations
- The road is rough
- The road is till narrow
On arrival at Lwakhakha Border, it is a beautiful border point and the Uganda Government have done a wonderful road from their side to the border.
Recommendation
The road is ideal and shorter by about 40KM to the border compared to the traditional Webuye-Malaba route.
Government Agencies at the border
The border has all the Government Agencies on both sides though the workload is small.
The northern corridor in their report is expected to recommend the usage of this border so as to decongest both Busia and Malaba borders. This border is quite ideal to cargo destined to the Republic of South Sudan.
