Governors want wider road to boost business at depot

From left: Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina, Governor Samuel Tunai and his Nakuru counterpart Lee Kinyanji address the Press after a consultative meeting in Naivasha, yesterday. [Antony Gitonga, Standard]

Governors want the Mai Mahiu-Limuru road expanded to make the multi-billion shilling industrial park and Internal Container Depot (ICD) in the area viable.

Governors Lee Kinyanjui and Samuel Tunai of Nakuru and Narok, respectively said the road experiences gridlock which adversely affects collection and delivery of goods at the depot.

In the last couple of months, traffic snarl-ups lasting more than 15 hours have become the norm along the road which is also the main gateway to the Great Rift Valley

Kinyanjui said motorists have complained over the man-hours lost on the road.

“We are asking the government to move with haste and expand the Mai Mahiu-Limuru road so that it can serve its purpose,” he said after a closed door meeting in Naivasha yesterday.

He disclosed that the county had already gazetted land around the industrial park to prevent the mushrooming of informal settlements.

 

Kinyajui praised President Uhuru Kenyatta for the project that saw the county reserve 50 acres of land around the industrial park for use by small scale traders.

“The industrial park is critical to the economy of Kenya and the neighboring countries and we are keen as a county to make it successful,” he said.

Tunai noted that hundreds of tourists heading to the Masai Mara get stuck for hours on the road.

He added that others had missed their flights due to traffic snarl-up on the road.

“There is a road that passes through Ngong to Suswa town and this can be rehabilitated for use by those heading to the Mara,” he said.

Tunai added that the closure of the Mai Mahiu-Narok road by herders protesting the killing of their livestock by motorists was eroding investor confidence in the region.