New road in Kenya’s Lamu County expected to urbanize the town

An incomplete road in Kenya has turned up offering advantages to the local people in Lamu County. According to the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) more than 100 youth have been employed and are away from vices like theft. They were earlier jobless.

The construction of Mokowe urban road in Lamu County is ongoing at a budget of Sh1.1 billion. Just 23 percent is completed.

A Lamu County resident said, “Youth who were posing a threat to security due to idleness caused by lack of meaningful employment are now working as casual labourers. Previously, the youth were engaging in crime.”

John Cheboi, Kura Assistant Corporate Communications Director, said a total of 15km road is to be constructed and as of now just 3.2km has been completed. It is scheduled to be completed fully next year in November and expected to link all public facilities and facilitate easy access to the Mokowe County Headquarters as well as improve the general security in the region.

Incidents of mugging, theft and burglary were on the rise in the region before the construction of the road, said Duncan Mwaura, a boda boda operator in Mokowe.

He added that safety of boda boda riders has lately been improved too.

Mwaura continued, “Before the project was launched, many roads in Mokowe were bushy and made it easy for robbers to waylay and kill us. Since the road was constructed, we can now operate with ease at night without having to worry about being robbed or even murdered. Security is now guaranteed.”

With the completion of the road it is expected the town will turn into a modern urban town.