The Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura), a state corporation under the ministry of transport and infrastructure bestowed with the mandate to manage, develop, rehabilitate and maintain national urban trunk roads, recently announced that it is on course to complete the over US$ 48.89M Nairobi informal settlements road upgrade project by December next year (2022).
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The project, which was launched in November last year, involves re-carpeting and upgrading a total of 408.4km of roads into cabro and asphalt (bitumen) standards, in addition to the installation of additional road infrastructures such as walkways and cycle lanes where there is adequate space.
Work done so far on the project
Reportedly, out of the 408.4km, 152.7km have already been completed including the 57.4km or its thereabouts completed between the launch of the project and June this year, and the approximately 95.3km completed in only three months between June and August.
According to John Cheboi, Kura’s chief corporate communications officer, there had been a few hitches at the beginning of the project “but we are now past that stage and everything is moving fast. The total kilometers of the road we have upgraded in a span of 10 months is the equivalent of the distance from Nairobi to Nakuru.”
The beneficiaries of the Nairobi informal settlements road upgrade project
The project will benefit more than 12 informal settlements in Nairobi. According to the overall plan, a total of 70 kilometers will be upgraded in Mukuru slums, 57.48km in Githurai, 50.76km in Roysambu, another 42km in Mwiki, 41km in Kangemi, and 40km in Dandora, Utawala, Mihang’o, and Ruai.
In Dagoretti, Kawangware, Kibera, Mathare, and Korogocho approximately 30km, 22.6km, 22.8km, 18.2km, and 13.6km of road will be upgraded respectively as part of the project.
