KeNHA director-general Peter Mundinia at a past media briefing. [Photo/ businessdaily.co.ke]
Kenya’s first high speed expressway connecting Nairobi and Mombasa will take six years to build, Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has said.
According to KeNHA, design and construction of the 473-kilometre road will begin anytime following last week’s signing of financing deal with US-based firm Bechtel International Inc.“The project will be supported with financing from Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) in the United States of America. The signing of this agreement will be followed by mobilising of funds from the ECAs for the construction of the expressway,” KeNHA director-general Eng Peter Mundinia said in a statement.Once built, the Sh230 billion road will be among key highways motorists are expected to pay a toll charge so as to help recoup construction and maintenance costs.Expressways, a common infrastructural feature in developed countries, are designed for high speed traffic averaging speeds of about 120 kilometres per hour.KeNHA says the road will have four lanes, with a provision for future increase to six lanes and 19 interchanges.The state agency projects that the expressway will be completed in ten sections over the next six years.The first section running from Nairobi to the junction with Namanga road near Kitengela will have an interchange near Konza City and a spur road to Kyumvi. This section will be commissioned in October 2019.The road is important for East Africa’s trade because it links the Mombasa Port to landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.