To have Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) upgraded and to widen the major road networks in the country, Kenya will need around KSh 5 trillion, President William Ruto announced.
In his third State of the Nation Address to the Parliament, the President said that by next year, the government through public-private partnerships will be refurbishing not only the JKIA but also Mombasa and Lamu ports and will be resolving the old problems of Kenya Airways.
He made it clear that the Ministry of Roads and Transport has a very ambitious plan which involves the next ten years to dual 2500 kilometres of highways and construct an additional 28000 kilometres of new tarmac roads and that this is set to become one of the biggest transport modernisation efforts in Kenya’s history.
As a way of showing that the work of road upgrade is already in progress, the President said next week he will be at the Rironi-Mai Mahiu road to launch the dualing of the 170-kilometre Rironi–Naivasha–Nakuru–Mau Summit road. He will also be at the 58-kilometre Rironi–Maai Mahiu–Naivasha road site to initiate the groundbreaking.
The money needed to revamp JKIA and Laying the groundwork for a nationwide road upgrade program in Kenya will cost millions of dollars, the President said, adding that five trillion shillings is the rough estimate for the financing of the entire project.
Even though he admitted that the project required a lot of money, Ruto still felt confident of the Parliament’s support, encouraging the 13th Parliament to endorse the transformative infrastructure as the core agenda that will be instrumental in positioning Kenya as a modern, competitive and well networked nation.
