The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has begun demolitions along the 84-kilometre Kisii-Kadongo and Kadongo-Ahero (A1) Road, targeting structures built illegally within the road reserve.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The exercise, carried out by KeNHA’s Corridor D Management Team on July 16, focused on four major trading centres along the busy highway, including Nyamataro, Nyakoe, Misambi and Kadongo trading centres, which bore the brunt of the demolitions as bulldozers razed structures to clear encroachments.

Images obtained by  Kenyans.co.ke showed business owners and residents watching as structures they had built over the years came crashing down within hours.

The demolished structures included unauthorized buildings, illegal signage, and access culverts constructed without KeNHA's approval.

📌 What You Need to Know

For many small traders, the road reserve had become an extension of their shops, a convenient but illegal arrangement that finally caught up with them. KeNHA distanced itself from the constant and usual claims of the transport authority not having issued the traders with a vacation notice prior, pointing out the  30-day eviction and demolition notice issued on  May 28, followed by weeks-long public participation. “ The exercise followed a public sensitization campaign in the affected areas and the issuance of vacation notices to encroachers,” stated KeNHA.

KeNHA says the exercise was necessary to protect the road reserve for both current use and future infrastructure expansion. Of note is that the earlier notice cited that the aim is part of the authority's ongoing road safety improvement initiative that seeks to reduce accidents and ensure the unobstructed flow of traffic along the Highway.

This is because, along the transport route, there are structures built too close to the road that often obstruct visibility for motorists.

Additionally, access culverts built without approval have also been flagged as a safety hazard, sometimes affecting drainage along the highway.

KeNHA has now urged Kenyans to stop encroaching on road reserves and to always seek approval before constructing culverts or erecting signage near national roads.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke