EACC to investigate pricing of Mombasa Road footbridges

The Mumo Matemu-led anti-corruption agency has launched investigations into alleged inflation of construction costs for two footbridges on Nairobi’s Mombasa Road.

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), through a contractor, built the two bridges at Bellevue and General Motors sections of the busy A109 highway at a cost Sh363.1 million.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) spokesman Yassin Amaro said the agency will publish its findings in a month’s time.

“We are interrogating the entire tendering process. We are looking at everything from the design, specifications and award of the tender,” Mr Amaro said.

The two footbridges are being built by H. Young & Company at a price of Sh185.8 million for the General Motors facility and Sh177.3 million for Bellevue.

The Kenya Roads Board (KRB) financed the construction work using money from the road maintenance fuel levy fund.

Structural engineers say pricing the footbridges, which do not have fibreglass roofing or even two-way exits on each side of the road, at more than Sh150 million is suspect.

Critics also point out that the Chinese-built footbridges on Thika Road (A2), which have both stairs and a separate wheelchair ramp for the disabled, did not cost as much.

H. Young declined to answer our questions on the matter, saying that it does not speak to the press.

“Our company has a policy of not disclosing any information to the media,” said a secretary at H. Young & Co (EA).

The projects’ costs include construction of toilets/shops and “monumental towers” near each bridge, according to KeNHA. The towers are described as “a signature for Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and KeNHA”.

Sh100 million

KeNHA officials also refused to comment on the issue and instead referred us to the Public Procurement Oversight Authority for clarification of any queries.

An official of the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak for the ministry, said that on average a footbridge over a four-lane road costs about Sh100 million.

He said that the Imara Daima footbridge also on the same stretch of the A109, which is more sophisticated and has better features such as fibre glass roof, cost $1.29 million (Sh118 million). The project is funded by the World Bank.

The KRB in its July 2014 newsletter indicated that the three footbridges had been initially allocated Sh350 million but the Imara Daima footbridge was seemingly dropped from the plan.

Kura is also building a footbridge a few kilometres away at the City Cabanas as part of the Eastern by-pass project.

The General Motors, City Cabanas, Bellevue, Airtel and Imara Daima areas account for the largest number of fatal accidents on Mombasa Road, necessitating construction of the footbridges.

The cost of the two footbridges underlines the huge price taxpayers must pay to have safe passage points established across the busy road.

The two pedestrian bridges are already in use but H. Young & Co is putting up finishing touches on the monuments, toilet blocks and shops.
In the near term, Outer Ring and Ngong roads are expected to be expanded from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport turnoff.

The 13km Outer Ring Road whose construction President Uhuru Kenyatta launched last month will have 10 footbridges. If priced at the H. Young rates, the footbridges alone would consume 21 per cent of the allocated Sh8.5 billion construction budget.

KeNHA plans to spend Sh1.8 billion to put up 10 footbridges along Thika Road to supplement the existing 18.

This means that the agency will spend a similar amount (about Sh180 million per footbridge) as it did on Mombasa Road to build footbridges over the much wider eight-lane Thika Highway.

Accident hotspots where footbridges will be built include Museum Hill, Desai Road, GSU, Roasters, Witeithie and Juja toll station.

About 1,340 pedestrians were killed last year accounting for nearly half of the 2,907 killed on Kenyan roads. Nairobi had the highest fatality rate on the roads at 561.

Additional reporting by David Herbling.