Browsing by Author "Kihara, David Mugo"

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    Effect of Quality of Road Infrastructure on County Economic Development in Kiambu County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2019-05) Kihara, David Mugo
    Given that roads are the main means of transport throughout Africa, and Kenya in particular, production costs, employment creation, access to markets, and investment all depend on the quality of road infrastructure. It is for this reason that this study sought to establish effect of road infrastructure on county development of Kiambu County by taking a case of Nyanduma Ward. The main objectives for this study included to assess how the status of roads and financial investment in road infrastructure affects economic development in Nyanduma Ward, Kiambu County, Kenya. The study also investigated the extent of road maintenance in the county and how it affects the economic development of Nyanduma Ward, Kiambu County, Kenya.A descriptive research design was adopted mainly because made it possible for the researcher to collect information through both personal accounts and observations made by the respondents concerning the topic of study. The study was carried out primarily in Kiambu County. However, since the county is vast and the research cannot be undertaken in every corner of the County, the researcher purposely selected Nyanduma Ward as the main area of study. The target population for this study included county officials that work in the roads department as they are the ones who were most likely to understand road infrastructure in the target area. They were offered with questionnaires as the main data collected instrument, after which the data obtained was analysed with the help of SPSS (version 22). Results obtained from the study pointed out that the respondents are neutral on whether financial investment in road infrastructure influences the county’s economic development (M=3.08) while they agreed that the state of road infrastructure has a role in the economic development of the county (M= 2.29). Regression analysis coefficients pointed out that the variable road maintenance has the greatest impact on road infrastructure (0.387 per unit increase), followed by the status of roads (0.229 per unit increase) and lastly financial investment (0.219 per unit increase). Additionally, student t statistics tests also revealed that the effect caused by these three variables was statistically significant. Specifically, the t statistic for Road Maintenance is t=4.824, p=0.000<0.005, while that for state of roads and financial investment is t=2.731, p=0.009 <0.005 and t=2.097, p=0.041 <0.005. Based on the study findings, therefore, the study concluded that financial investment in road infrastructure influences the county’s economic development. The study recommended a keener look into the road infrastructure of the county if its development is going to be impacted