By Kilemi Mwiria
As impressive as it looks to many Kenyans, the Thika Super Highway pales in comparison to what is available in some African countries such as Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and the Arab North. For an estimated cost of Kenya Sh30 billion, we could construct at least one such highway every year.
Thus, similar projects should target Mombasa Road, Waiyaki Way, Lang’ata and Outer Ring. Ideally, this should greatly ease transportation in and out of Nairobi while making driving a pleasurable experience.
The challenge is, however, what to do with what gets into the city. Even before Thika highway is complete, driving along Uhuru highway is a nightmare because too many vehicles are getting offloaded here. Unfortunately, most of the vehicles that end up on Uhuru highway have no business in the city. One solution is an elevated section of Uhuru highway to filter traffic headed towards Jomo Kenyatta airport and Westlands.
Even more effective would be an elevated highway ring around the city as in Johannesburg and other big cities. This would allow motorists enter and exit the city from numerous points. The northern and southern bypasses should help in this regard, especially if they also have elevated sections to take account of future traffic growth. It would also help if developments such Thika Highway plan for enough exit and entry points to reduce the volume of traffic getting into the city.
The city ring and wider highways should be complemented by a working public transportation system to limit the number of matatus and saloon cars entering the city.
This implies large parking bays in the outskirts of Nairobi, a city metro system, a more efficient city parking arrangement and bicycle and pedestrian lanes. It should be made prohibitively expensive to drive and park within Nairobi as long as public transportation is comfortable.
Achievement of Vision 2030 will be enhanced by linking Nairobi and other major towns with our key border towns and county headquarters by dual carriage ways. In addition to business efficiency and reduced accidents, we shall be generating more jobs. Thus, future designs should accommodate existing economic activities. For example, the thriving Githurai informal sector should be converted into a modern market.
Going by the experience of Thika Highway, we should keep future road corridors clear of encroachers. Encroachment of Thika Road resulted in compensation claims totalling to almost a third the cost of the whole project.
Yet, the land compensated for was bought in 1973 by the same government. Construction costs can be greatly reduced by acquiring land for road development now and ensuring that it is kept clear of land grabbers. Our long-term plan should envisage a medium sized airport for each county and rail links with all county headquarters.
There is the question of cost. First, much more could be accomplished through greater efficiency in the utilization of available government resources. A second source is the private sector thorough road tolls and fuel levies and privatization of full lengths or sections of some of our highways.
We could further take advantage of development banks such The African Development Bank, which is funding Thika Highway, and The World Bank; and borrow more from friendly governments.
The writer is MP for Tigania West and Assistant Minister, Ministry for Higher Education, Science & Technology
