President Uhuru Kenyatta has presided over the launch of the first phase of the 2.6 kilometre Ngong Road that will upgrade it to a dual carriageway.
The road, which was commissioned on Wednesday, August 24 will be constructed with the support of a 1.3 billion shillings grant from the Japanese government, and will ease traffic jam on the often clogged stretch leading to the city centre.
Speaking during the occasion, President Kenyatta said Nairobi is clogged because investment in its infrastructure has not matched its growth over the years.
“Lack of investment is expensive: you may have heard that congestion costs Nairobi approximately Ksh 147 billion a year, a figure that doesn’t take into account the environmental and psychological costs that Nairobians must bear,” the President said.
“It is time to make the most of the opportunities we have. First, relocation of services certainly should not be a bottleneck to improved connectivity in the country. We can no longer delay services and infrastructure to hundreds of thousands of people simply because a few Kenyans do not want to move their businesses or their homes,” he added.
President Kenyatta called on the Nairobi County leadership and other devolved units to ensure that installations along the roads earmarked for improvement are properly marked to minimize disruptions and also called on Kenyans along the roads under construction to cooperate.
He also urged people to warmly welcome Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is scheduled to make a state visit and also attend TICAD VI, being held in Nairobi later in the week.