The government has announced plans to construct a new expressway at Kiambu Road in Nairobi to ease congestion and traffic jams in the city.

Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the road will be built through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in a new move by the Kenya Kwanza administration to finance its infrastructure projects by obtaining resources and expertise of the private sector.

Murkomen announced the new Kiambu Road expressway plan during the official launch of the Nairobi Expressway Haile Selassie Exit Plaza which has been under construction for a period of five months.

“We will soon start the Kiambu Road Expressway through Public-private partnership since that is the best model to finance infrastructure projects currently,” said Murkomen.

Ease traffic congestion

The Haile Selassie Exit Plaza has five lanes which are meant to help ease traffic congestion between Capital Centre and Haile Selassie Roundabout. The new Expressway exit plaza is set to facilitate easy access to the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD), Upper Hill, and Ngong Road.

Following the launch of the new exit, Moja Expressway Company which is the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and Operator of the 27.1km highway, lauded the project saying traffic volume has increased from 10,000 trips to about 65,000 trips on weekdays, showing a six-fold growth.

The company noted that it was also working to enhance customer experience and improve service level by adding two more lanes at the JKIA entrance and at the Museum Hill exits.

Land acquisition

At JKIA, the lanes have already been completed while those at Museum Hill are awaiting completion of land acquisition negotiation with the University of Nairobi.

The new Exit, which has five lanes, will now grant motorists using the Expressway from Mlolongo, JKIA and other entry points along Mombasa Road, easy access to the Nairobi CBD, Ngong Road & Upper Hill & reduce traffic congestion from Capital Centre to Haile Selassie roundabout.

“The infrastructural adjustment, which has been completed within five months, signifies the responsiveness of Moja Express to public demands and their readiness to work with the Government in expanding Kenya’s infrastructural network,” said Murkomen.

He said government will continue working with both local and international investors and contractors to roll-out more infrastructure projects as a way of cutting down Government expenditure on road construction and reducing public debt.

The event was attended by Roads PS Eng. Joseph Mbugua, KENHA DG Kung’u Ndung’u, Moja Express CEO Steve Zhao among others.

Murkomen said the exit will also facilitate access to most government offices. “A lot of people were saying that the value of the Expressway was being underutilized because of the exit that was far away from the CBD, Harambee Avenue which is the heart of government offices including the office of the President, DP, Parliament, Judiciary where we have Supreme Court,” Murkomen said.

Murkomen also said the dualling work on Kenya’s Rironi-Mau Summit road in the Kiambu and Nakuru counties is expected to begin this year.

The Rironi-Mau Summit road is part of the greater Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Highway PPP project, which aims to improve connectivity to Kenya’s Rift Valley, Western Kenya regions and beyond.

The Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit road forms part of the A8 highway and of the Northern Corridor that connects the Port of Mombasa via Nairobi to Malaba at the border with Uganda and onwards to Kampala.