The government should honour its pledge to extend the Mombasa Road dual carriageway project from Mlolongo to Salama to ease traffic congestion, Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi has said.

Dualling that section of the road would save travellers the agony of wasting time in traffic jams, he added.

President William Ruto made the pledge in August last year when he officially launched the Open University of Kenya, the first virtual public university in the country, at Konza Technopolis.

The President said at the time that the road, whose duelling was initially designed to end at the Machakos town turnoff, was to be be extended to Salama because of the Sh100 billion Konza Technopolis project.

“The dual carriageway is important because of the Sh100 billion investment we have put in Konza City,” Ruto said at the 2023 event.

“The dualling that began at Mlolongo will get to Malili town and end at the next Salama town in Makueni County.”

Stretch a nuisance

Once the dualling of the road is completed, Mwangangi said, the Kenya National Highways Authority should extend it from the Machakos town turnoff to the town itself.

“The stretch from that turnoff at Mombasa Road all the way to Machakos has become a nuisance due to heavy snarl-ups,” Mwangangi told a gathering at AIC Miwani during the inauguration of Miwani deputy county commissioner.

“We spend a lot of time in the heavy traffic that can be easily solved through the dualling of the road.”

The deputy governor said dualling the road would not only ease transport between Nairobi and Machakos but would also enhance services and help the growth of Kenya’s pioneer township.

He said Machakos town has witnessed steady growth size, population and property development over the past 15 years that has not been marched with infrastructure growth.