The expansion of the Malaba-Kanduyi highway into a dual carriageway will kick off in the next financial year, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has said.
The dualling will quicken transport along that part of the Northern Corridor, increase Kenya’s earnings from regional trade, limit cargo trucks traffic snarl-ups as well as reduce accidents along the route, the former Sirisia MP said.
The Speaker said expansion of the road is a priority for President William Ruto’s administration as he moves to modernise vital social infrastructure to improve transport and business.
Wetang’ula, who spoke at Kenya Medical Training College Teso campus, said modernising the Malaba-Kanduyi highway is long overdue. He called on residents to support the project that is also set to improve the economy of the Kenya-Uganda border community.
The Speaker was hosted by Teso North MP Oku Kaunya and accompanied by Kanduyi MP John Makali.
“When I was in the Senate, I convinced my colleagues to come to Malaba to inspect this road,” Wetang’ula said.
“In the next two weeks, you will be seeing surveyors coming here. The first phase of the expansion will involve the Malaba-Webuye highway before transformation works extend to Webuye, Eldoret, Nakuru, Naivasha and finally Nairobi.”
He said those who will be affected by the project will be compensated.
Calls for dualling of the highway have been on for over five years.
During President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second term, then Transport CS James Macharia said the dualling of the Nairobi-Malaba highway was a priority in Uhuru’s plans to boost passenger movement as well as the movement of cargo between the port of Mombasa and Malaba.
Macharia’s predecessor Kipchumba Murkomen hinted at start of expansion works for the Malaba-Webuye-Eldoret highway when he visited Malaba in May.
Murkomen toured the border town where he hosted his Ugandan counterpart Musa Ecweru. He said modernising the highway will play a vital role in boosting Kenya’s trade with her neighbours.
The Malaba One Stop Border Post that is connected to the Malaba-Webuye highway handles 80 per cent of cargo from the port of Mombasa destined to landlocked East African countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Eastern DR Congo, according to official data from Kenya Revenue Authority.
Malaba border is the busiest crossing point for trucks using the Northern Corridor, which connects landlocked countries of Uganda, DR Congo, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi to the port of Mombasa.
Approximately 1,000 cargo trucks pass through the Malaba One Stop Border Post each day.
Uganda is the biggest destination for transit cargo through Mombasa, accounting for about 83.2 per cent of transit volumes, according to Kenya Ports Authority.
South Sudan takes up 9.9 per cent while DR Congo, Tanzania and Rwanda account for 7.2 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively. Over 80 per cent of these cargo transits through Malaba.
“We want to boost the economy of Western,” Wetang’ula said.
“As these projects come, you should also work hard by utilising these assets to better the economy of border communities.”
The Speaker revealed plans by the national government to build a dry port on a 150-acre piece of land near Malaba town.
The SGR, he also said, will be extended from Naivasha to Malaba before it crosses to Uganda.
Kaunya has consistently been on record since 2017 when he was first elected to Parliament, calling on the national government to dual the Malaba-Kanduyi-Webuye-Eldoret highway to boost trade and also cut down the number of accidents along the route.
The latest of such accidents happened on October 3 when a boda boda rider was killed by an overlapping cargo truck near Kocholya bridge in Teso North subcounty.
The death of the motorcycle rider resulted in riots as colleagues of the deceased wanted to burn the fuel tanker that ran over the motorcyclist.