Last month at the opening of the next phase of the Office Park complex,
Engineer Arasa of the Kenya Ministry of Roads gave a talk on the future of roads in Nairobi - who's construction this year will amount to Kshs. 153 billion (~$1.8 billion) and reach an eventual total spend of Kshs. 2 trillion over the next 15 years.
Kileleshwa road with a cycle path |
There are also the missing link roads in the west of Nairobi, being financed by the Japanese Government
that will connect Ngong Rd to James Gichuru, and Gitanga Rd to Waiyaki Way - both
though Kileleshwa - and both are expected to be completed in March 2013. (Note the bulldozers at the Yaya parking now)
Others include upgrading Langata Rd to dual
carriageway at Kshs 2.6 billion (with an underpass at Bomas junction) and, and there are also the Upper Hill Roads being done in two
phases (Kshs 2 billion, financed by GoK), starting with the widening of Elgon,
Kilimanjaro, Upper Hill, and Bunyala Roads to dual carriageway by May 2014.
Bomas junction in the future |
Other planned roads in the
future include converting Adams Arcade - Karen - Ngong
- Bomas to four lanes (with flyovers at Dagoretti Corner and Karen shopping centre) - between 2013 - 2016 to be financed by the
Chinese Govt at an estimated cost of Kshs 15 billion. Another will convert Outer Ring Rd to
dual carriageway (at a cost of Kshs 6 billion, of which 3.5 billion has been
sourced from ADB) .
Some interesting point in the talk were:
- Though stats show that 47% of Nairobians walk to work, the Roads Ministry hopes the new roads will address several challenges such as unregulated public transportation, encroachment on road reserves, (past) low investment in roads, inefficient junctions and the already present traffic. They also know that more & better roads may result in more traffic e.g. Thika Road which used to handle 70,000 vehicles per day, will have 100,000 per day by the end of the year.
- Thika Road will be a toll road.
- Another missing link road may include a fly over at the City Mortuary junction.
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