Nairobi will next year get an infrastructural facelift after City Hall heightened its lobbying with the national government to spruce up major roads and courted development partners for more funding.
Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced that his administration recently conducted joint tours of major city roads with Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir to assess the needed repair works and restore them for utility.
The roads they toured include Uhuru Highway, Mombasa Road and Waiyaki Way to ensure the disrepair parts are fixed and ready for use by the public.
“We recently conducted a joint tour of the roads with roads CS Davis Chirchir to get them restored. We toured Uhuru highway, Waiyaki Way and Mombasa Road to ensure that the undercarriage is restored for usage by the public,” he said.
“I promise you that come next year, from the start, there will be a remarked difference [in the city’s infrastructure].”
The governor said that he recently met a delegation of development partners who have promised funding for the stalled Bus Rapid Transit project that had initially been billed as a game changer in city mobility.
The delegation was from the European Investment Bank, the EU and the French development agency who he pledged some 320 million Euros (Sh43,446,400,000) for the completion of phase three of the BRT line.
“I received the delegation for the European Investment Bank, the EU and the French development agency who have promised 320 million Euros for phase three of the BRT which is to run from Dandora to the CBD to KNH and the line will eventually run to Ngong’,” he said.
The promise of restoring dilapidated roads comes amid concern from city residents that ended rains have visited damages that have gone unattended.
From potholes to roads flooding due to clogged waterways, the enhanced short rains wreaked havoc in Nairobi, with residents faulting Sakaja’s administration of sleeping on the job.
Motorists in the city have become accustomed to gaping potholes that visit damages on their cars and put lives at risk.
With the rains, some of the roads have turned into mini-water bodies, hampering movement and heightening risks. The governor’s promise, however, does not address feeder roads and some markets that remain pathetic.
Areas such as the posh neighbourhoods of Kilimani, Kileleshwa, Lavington, and Upper Hill are also bearing the brunt of neglect by the Sakaja administration.
On Jogoo Road, some residents have resorted to filling potholes themselves, venting their frustration as they decry the disrepair.
The problem is compounded by
the shifting of blame by the authorities, as the county has said it is not to
blame for poor infrastructure.