President William Ruto has unveiled a series of road projects that will be implemented in Nairobi, with an expressway running from Thika to Museum Hill at its list, with construction set to begin next year. According to President Ruto, developing an expressway will be among the measures that will address traffic congestion within the city.
During Jamhuri Day festivities at Nyayo Stadium on Friday, addressing thousands of Kenyans, President Uhuru Kenyatta made promises that have become somewhat familiar. These include works and projects, revived and new, as well as an extension of road networks. This goes on to make Uhuru “the king of promises” among some sections of Kenyans.
Ruto made an announcement that a deal had been reached between the national government and Nairobi County to resuscitate all the paused road projects in the city, with contractors who abandoned projects set to return.
“There are a number of things that we have agreed on with the Nairobi County Government that we will undertake. We will construct all the roads that were stalled here in Nairobi, and we have agreed on the return of all contractors,” he said.
He added that a total of 60 kilometers have already been put under construction in various residential estates, mentioning some of these projects as Muhuri Road and Mama Wahu Road at Dagoretti South, Mihang’o Link Bypass at Embakasi East, Umoja 1 SDA Road at Embakasi West, Thindigwa Road at Roysambu, and Road C at Embakasi South.
The postponed upgrade on Valley Road, he added, has also been revived with the new contractor sent to the site. Other major road projects with similar upgrades include Ngong Road and Haile Selassie Avenue.
Ruto also added that the government will embark on rebuilding and resurfacing the road from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to ABC Place via Waiyaki Way from December and will make it more welcoming as people enter the capital city as they visit for the holidays.
Aside from these and the surrounding estates, the President went on to focus on Nairobi itself. The President recognized the daily congestion experienced by tens of thousands of daily commuters from Kajiado County.
“We know there are people who live within the Nairobi metropolitan region and are working within the city, people from Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong, who have enormous traffic congestion in the morning and evening,” he pointed out.
To make things easier for commuters, Ruto committed to improving Ngong Road from Bomas of Kenya via Karen, Rongai, and eventually to Kiserian to make it a dual carriageway.
An issue he tackled as well was congestion on Thika Road, which was among the country’s busiest roads despite having eight lanes. Ruto said that next year, the Thika-Museum Hill Expressway would be under construction, just like the JKIA-Westlands Expressway.
“I know that most people who reside in Thika and travel along Thika Road today experience serious traffic. From next year onwards… we will also construct an Expressway from Thika to Museum Hill so as to reduce traffic,” he said.
These were set against the background of the completion of the Ksh 88 billion Nairobi Expressway project, which was completed in 2022 as a result of a partnership structure involving the government of Kenya and China Road and Bridge Corporation.
The project is among the costliest transport projects ever implemented. Because of the ever-growing populations of Nairobi and congestion on the city’s road network, Ruto said that his government’s plan aims at making it a modern, efficient, and commuter-friendly city.
