Kenya is exploring ways of partnering with the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) to expand and modernise its highway infrastructure, while ensuring the safety of road users.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen highlighted the potential collaboration Wednesday during his visit to KEC headquarters in Korea.
Murkomen recognised the company’s successes in constructing and managing expressways.
Murkomen is part of the delegation accompanying President William Ruto in the Korea-Africa summit.
Emphasising the importance of learning from KEC's expertise to enhance Kenya's transportation network, Murkomen said KEC currently manages a network of 4,929km of tolled roads on 47 routes.
This is up from only one expressway in 1970.
"KEC's innovative approach to highway construction and management is exemplary," Murkomen stated.
"As government, we are committed to incorporating lessons form our partners to expand and modernise our roads even as we ensure safety,” he added.
The state-owned company was founded in 1969 and is mandated to construct and manage expressways in Korea.
The visit also involved talks with the company’s President Ham Jin-Gyu where they discussed the framework for constructing and managing expressways and advanced technologies for managing traffic.
Jin-Gyu noted that good highways had been an engine for economic development in the country expressing optimism that this would be replicated in Kenya.
Murkomen also had an opportunity to visit Korea Expressway’s Traffic Management Centre, a facility employing integrated high technology to facilitate real-time monitoring of the entire expressway network.
The system is able to detect traffic flow anomalies and initiate interventions.
The facility communicates accurate traffic updates round the clock through various media channels.
He also visited the Godeok Grand Bridge, which is under construction and is the longest cable-stayed concrete bridge in the world.
The bridge, funded largely by own-source revenue carries 6-8 lanes of traffic over the Han River and is a section of a major new expressway project connecting Seoul to the South of the country.