Busy Nairobi road to be closed for six days

The Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) has announced that a section of Likoni Road at Enterprise Road junction will be closed from Saturday, December 14, 2019, to Friday, December 20, 2019.

According to a public notice issued by the authority, the disruption is due to the hoisting of beams as part of plans to improve the junction.

Motorists have been advised to use alternative routes as indicated below:

Enterprise Road, whose refurbishment contract was awarded in 2013, was expected to ease traffic flow in the hub but now sticks out like a sore thumb - as a major source of traffic snarl-ups.

Other than losses that it has earned manufacturers, the road can partly be blamed on a slowdown in investments by other firms that have cited poor infrastructure in Industrial Area.

This, among other reasons, has seen companies opt to set up in other areas, denying them synergies that would accrue to players operating from a common hub.

The 6.1-kilometre Enterprise Road stretch is the most critical artery for Nairobi’s Industrial Area. It stretches from the junction shared with Bunyala Road and Commercial Street - to the General Motors Junction where it intersects with Mombasa Road.

It cuts through other major roads servicing the area, such as Likoni and Lusaka roads, while feeding into smaller streets, some leading directly to manufacturer’s premises.

The intersection with Likoni Road is perhaps the most painful sight. The contractor, Nigerian firm Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), is putting up an overpass at the junction but has moved at a slow pace, opting to put up in small amounts of work every few months.

RCC was awarded the contract to repair segments of Enterprise Road in 2013 as part of a European Union-funded construction of 16km Eastern Missing Link Roads. It was expected to finish the job within a year.