The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has announced plans to construct Magongo-Jomvu-Miritini road, allowing passengers easy access to the standard gauge railway (SGR) passenger train terminus in Mombasa. The authority’s director of highway planning and design, Samuel Omer made the announcement and said that the environmental and social impact assessment studies for the project is being carried out by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and will take about a month.
“The 2.7km road plan aims to provide a reliable link and safe access to Mombasa SGR terminus. The social impact studies entail relocation of utilities and implementation of resettlement action plans to enable works on the project to proceed,” said Mr. Samuel.
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Financing the project
The director also noted that the project will be will be funded by the government as well as private financiers. The contract for the Magongo-Jomvu-Miritini road is also yet to be awarded though the government has in the recent past preferred Chinese firms for infrastructure projects across the country.
The SGR line is for passengers and cargo transportation between Mombasa, the largest port city in East Africa, and Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. The new railway line constitutes the first phase of the SGR project that aims to connect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Mombasa-Nairobi SGR is the biggest infrastructure project in Kenya since independence. It will shorten the passenger travel time from Mombasa to Nairobi from more than ten hours to a little more than four hours. Freight trains will complete the journey in less than eight hours.
