Tanzanian president John Magufuli accompanied with his host Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday launched the Ngong Road/Lenana interchange road to extend the former’s development steak to Kenya.
This was the final day for Magufuli’s visit where he has held bilateral talks with Kenyatta including the strengthening of the East African Community (EAC).
Speaking during the launch, President Kenyatta said that the Sh18.8 billion Southern by-pass will save Northern Corridor transporters time as they previously used more than three hours to go through the city.
“With the completion of this road, the journey has been reduced to half an hour,” he said.
The President also heaped praise for his Tanzanian guest for supporting infrastructure projects which will eventually boost their ties.
“We also expect that next year we will launch the construction of the Malindi-Lunga Lunga road on the Kenya side and Horohoro -Tanga-Bagamoyo-Dar es Salaam road on the Tanzanian side,” he said.
Magufuli asked the Kenyan government to set aside areas along the road where hawkers would operate from and sell commodities to travellers.
“I look forward to the day when I will make a stopover along the Southern by-pass to buy food from hawkers instead of going to a big hotel," he said.