Upgrading and Widening Roads

We can be justifiably pleased in the part HKA played in the completion of the first phase of the Nyankoba Ward roads project, which was to connect Nyanchonori, Chitago and Kegwanda to the major road system in 2012 (see “What We’ve Done”. In our initial planning document in 2009, we estimated that this would cost about $50,000 and would take about 3-5 years to raise funds and complete the work, so we met the target. Completing these roads was a significant contribution to improving the quality of the lives of the people in these villages.

We met with the Governor and administrators of newly-formed Nyamira County Government in 2014 to discuss HKA projects and to enlist the help of the County through a partnership for future development. The County now has responsibility for some local roads and we obtained an agreement that the road from Chitago to Igwero would be completed by the County. This road had been added to our plan since it would create a through route from the Nyankoba Tea Factory to Rigoma, which would encourage commerce and public transportation (matatus). We were happy to learn that in early 2015, the County completed this road, except that it still requires some culverts which we will need to finance. The County also took over the maintenance of this road.

The County also graded the 0.7 km road from the B3 main road to Nyankoba Secondary and Primary Schools and the 0.7 km road from Mong’oni Secondary School to the Mong’oni Healthcare Center. The last 0.5 km of this road was in very bad shape and made the center inaccessible by vehicles during wet weather. Both roads need murrum (stone overlay) and culverts, which we will add to our project list.

In 2018, the Nyamira County government has widened 3.7 km of the roads we completed to 10 meters. They have also built new roads connecting Chitago with Igwero and Nyanchonori with Rigoma.

We are currently raising funds for these projects:

1)    Complete the culverts on the existing Nyanchonori to Chitago and Kegwanda roads, the new Chitago to Igwero road, and the Nyanchonori to Rigoma road.

2)    Add murrum to the road from the B3 main road to Nyankoba Secondary and Primary Schools, 0.7 km.

3)    Add murrum to the road from Mong’oni Secondary School to the Mong’oni Healthcare Center, 0.7 km.

4)    The road to the Nyankoba Schools (see 3) continues 2.0 km to the Nyaigesa to Mong’oni road, with a bridge that would need to be repaired. Completion of this road would upgrade all roads in the Nyankoba Ward to all-weather standards.