Less than a year after the successful launch of the Standard Gauge Railway, President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to unveil the start of the greatest road project in East Africa.
The project is about the construction of the much-anticipated road between Mombasa and Nairobi, allowing motorists to take just four hours between the two cities.
At the moment, travelling by road using the most efficient buses between the two biggest urban centres in Kenya takes one about 10 hours, resulting in fatigue and time wastage.
Heavy traffic outside Mombasa, on the way to Nairobi, which delays travellers. [Photo/nation.co.ke]
The SGR project, which has been warmly embraced by hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who use it monthly, has already changed the way people move between the two areas. It has been credited with playing a big role in the massive revenue growth of the country’s tourism sector last year, despite a prolonged period of elections and divisive campaigns.
The sector overcame huge odds to record a 20% growth — from about Sh100 billion earned in 2016 to Sh120 billion recorded last year.
Local tourism, which has been struggling for years, had a great improvement, thanks to the SGR — which allows travellers to spend just over four hours on the road.
Local tourists having a good time at a Mombasa beach. [Photos/Courtesy of MNE]
Now that feasibility studies and designs are done, construction works are scheduled to start later this year, and the project will employ more than 4,000 Kenyans, who will get skills and capacity training.
Set to accelerate the country’s march towards industrialisation, the road will have four lanes — initially — and will allow motorists to move at an uninterrupted speed of 120km/h.
The Sh230 billion mega-project, set to be completed within six years, has been divided into 10 sections. Each area will be opened as soon as it is completed, with the first one at Namanga Road junction set to be opened in October next year. Some officials have estimated that because of the fast track delivery model, works on the 473km road may be finished ahead of schedule.
According to planners, the main focus of the road will be to develop business in coordination with the SGR.