Thursday, September 19, 2024 - Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir has outlined reasons why the Road Maintenance Levy was increased by Ksh7 per litre from Ksh18 to Ksh25, despite a Mombasa High Court ruling halting the implementation in late August.
Speaking when he appeared before
the Senate on September 18 to answer questions fielded by Senators, Chirchir
argued that one of the major reasons why the increase was enacted was because
the levy had stagnated at Ksh18 per litre for 8 years.
Due to inflation and
real-time value, Chirchir noted that there was also a decline in the value of
the levy over the eight years.
His last concern was the rise in
the cost of road works over time, arguing that the value of the RML was lagging
behind in delivery.
At the same time, Chirchir
blamed the funding gap in his ministry as the main reason the government had
not been able to carry out all the required road maintenance.
It is for this glaring funding
gap that Chirchir says that a proposal to review the levy by Kshs7 per litre
was formulated several months ago.
The Road Maintenance Levy, which
came into effect on July 15 and is charged per litre, received a lot of
criticism and even faced a petition in court that was later dropped even after
the court had blocked the government from increasing the levy until the
petition was heard.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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