Road Infrastructure Policies in Kenya: Historical Trends and Current Challenges
KIPPRA Working Paper No. 1
Abstract
Development and maintenance of physical infrastructure are prerequisites for rapid economic growth and poverty reduction, as they influence production costs, employment creation, access to markets, and investment. This paper reviews and analyses roads infrastructure policies in Kenya over the post-independence period. The paper has six sections. After the introduction, it presents the theoretical and policy framework for roads infrastructure, focusing on the phases of roads development, structure for roads administration and provision, basic objectives of roads policies, and strategies for sustainable transport policies. The third and fourth sections deal with the trends in and the impact of the Kenya road policy. A critique on the policy framework and conclusions are presented in the penultimate and last sections.
An inventory of the Kenya road policy framework over time shows that i) the main policy initiatives during the first post-independence decade involved provision of infrastructure by the public sector and development of rural roads using cess funds from sale of rural output, ii) rural access and minor roads programmes have characterized the Kenya road policy since the second decade, and iii) several policy reforms for road infrastructure development typify the third and fourth decades. The landmarks in the road policy evolution include the formation of the Kenya Roads Board, the introduction of a road maintenance levy fund and axle-load limits, and moves towards increased private-sector participation in all facets of road service delivery.
The impact of Kenya’s roads policy is demonstrated by the size of the roads network, which is fairly well developed. However, the network’s operating condition has suffered from inadequate maintenance, repair and rehabilitation (MR&R), and the fragmentation of the institutional framework within which it is managed.
Clearly, the overall road policy framework is not integrated to promote a positive impact and generate cumulative positive externalities. It does not provide a balanced approach to strengthening and rehabilitating existing assets, on one hand, and constructing new roads and bridges, improving low-grade sections and widening roads to four lanes, on the other. Moreover, there have been unexplained reversals and weak implementation of specific policy strategies; little progress towards instituting legal and regulatory frameworks for private-sector participation; and no privatization strategy, such as for unbundling viable roads into build-operate-transfer concessions for awarding through competitive bidding.
Future policy initiatives should address the questions of integrated transportation, funding, commercialization, sharing and disbursement of road funds, vehicle weight and size, MR&R through fiscal decentralization and road asset management, and private sector participation. There is also need for further research to inform Kenya’s future strategic policy directions, which imposes a broadening set of performance demands on the roads system.
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