The government will start conducting test runs along the Nairobi Expressway next year March after which President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to commission it in April.
Speaking during an inspection tour Wednesday, Transport CS James Macharia revealed that the game-changing project is 64 per cent complete and will end in six months.
"Test runs on the road will take place in March next year as we are confident that the contractors will have completed all works by February, " he said.
Macharia noted that the government has cut the time frame for the Sh65 billion project by two years.
"We have shortened the project from four years to two years thus the reason why the contractors work 24 hours to see its completion," he said.
He stated that the Nairobi Expressway was the most complicated infrastructure project the government has ever done due to its location and the impact it has.
The Nairobi Expressway is perhaps one of the best insights as to how the President has been singularly focused on bridging Kenya’s critical infrastructure deficit and addressing the adverse economic impact of Nairobi’s bad traffic.
Businesses that have been affected by the construction works will be compensated excluding those that had encroached on the road reserves.
State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita noted that the project was purely Public-Private Partnership with no debt incurred by the government.
"This project fits in the Nairobi Masterplan and no single fund has been borrowed by the government. It is purely PPP, " he added.
Nzioka emphasized that the Nairobi Expressway will be a game-changer to Nairobi which is an international hub.
"I can say without fear of any contradiction that President Uhuru Kenyatta's commitment to bridging the infrastructure gap will be honoured by the time his term comes to an end," he added.
The Nairobi Expressway Project is a 27.1km road project beginning from Mlolongo through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Nairobi’s CBD to Westland’s area along Waiyaki Way.
The Nairobi Expressway will have a four-lane and six-lane dual carriageway within the existing median of Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway, and Waiyaki Way as well as 10 interchanges.
The section between the Eastern and Southern bypasses will be a six-lane dual carriageway while the section from to the Eastern Bypass and that from the Southern Bypass to James Gichuru will be a four-lane dual carriageway.
Some 6,000 people have been employed since its construction commenced in July 2020.
The Nairobi ExpressWay is the first expressway built in East and Central Africa and the second largest toll road in Africa after the Dakar Toll Highway.
The double-decker road is the equivalent of having half of the Thika Superhighway suspended above Uhuru highway and the city's main traffic artery.
The Expressway will cut travel time from Rironi to JKIA from three hours to just 20 minutes.
Edited by D Tarus