Plans to end jams by December, State House chief says
Heavy traffic that characterises Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, will be a thing of past after the government announced a raft of measures geared towards ending the menace.
The first phase is to complete all the four bypasses including Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern within the next three months.
“Traffic jams will end in Nairobi, you are going to see an entirely different city that you have not seen before.
By constructing this roads we have a complete Nairobi circular and you can now go around Nairobi without passing through the city centre,” said State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita.
Waita said the bypasses constructions are in the advanced stages and by December President Uhuru Kenyatta would open them.
Waita said that in conjunction, with Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) the government has managed to construct about 300km of roads in small towns and estates within Nairobi.
“Cumulatively all these roads together with attendant pedestrian walkaways will serve to ease Nairobi’s congestion in the near term as the city starts to gear itself for mass for mass transit solutions like commuter rail and bus rapid transport,” he said.
Waita described the Northern Bypass as one of Kenya government’s major infrastructure projects aimed at making the country a regional business hub.
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said government has also set aside money to make Eastern bypass a dual carriageway.
On the other hand, there is the Western bypass, which starts in Gitaru through Wangige and Ndenderu and terminates at Ruaka.
Upon completion, the Sh17 billion road is expected to ease traffic congestion around Nairobi City, ensure rapid economic growth around the areas near the road, improve safety of pedestrians and other non-motorised road users.
“Just like while coming from Mombasa Road, you can use Southern Bypass as you go around Nairobi. This will create seamless connectivity within the city,” said Waita.
Macharia said all these roads are part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s commitment to ensure he has left a city with no traffic congestion.
“We are doing alot of work more than we even expected to have done by this time.
If you move in almost every part of Nairobi you will roads being constructed.
We are doing this to make Nairobi a better place. This is one city on these part of world where we host big offices”, he said.
