Construction of Nairobi’s Outer Ring Road yet to start, nine months after ground breaking

President Uhuru Kenyatta(right) when he launched the construction of Nairobi Eastern Missing Link Roads same day he launched Outer Ring Road construction at Mlango Kubwa Nairobi County on looking is European Union Ambassador, Lodewijk Briet. PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI/FILE

NAIROBI: Only five per cent of the ongoing Sh8.5 billion Nairobi Outer Ring Road project has been completed.

The construction is part of the plans to de-congest city roads and was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on January 22. The work was scheduled to last three years.

A road inspection tour led by the Transport Principal Secretary John Mosonik revealed that the actual road construction had not started but the groundwork was complete.

He attributed the delay to many complexities, which he said had to be complied with to ensure everything was smooth before the actual construction begins.

"There are so many things involved in road construction such as land preparation and relocation of people, and doing this can sometimes take a while," said Dr Mosonik.

SinoHydro Tianjin Engineering Company, which has been contracted to do the construction in conjunction with Lea Associates South East Asia, said the relocation of services such as water, sewer and power lines played a big role in the delay.

WORKING SHIFTS

The Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) who are implementing the project said things will move swiftly now as they have put in place several measures to ensure the construction is completed on time.

Kura acting Director General Silas Kinoti said they are coming up with different strategies that will involve the workers at the construction sites working in double shifts to speed up the process.

The construction of the 13km Outer Ring Road is to be done in four sections.

The first section will cover the General Service Unit (GSU) junction with Thika Road to Kariobangi junction.

The second section will run from Kariobangi to the Kangundo Road junction, while the third section will pick up from there to Donholm junction.

Donholm to the Eastern Bypass junction (Airport South Road) will be covered in the fourth section.

The Nairobi Eastern Missing Links, which fall under the same de-congestion project, was being undertaken by Reynolds Construction Company of Nigeria at a cost of Sh4.58 billion.

It has made more progress compared to the Outer Ring road, and construction is expected to be completed by November, 2016.