The national government through the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) on Friday announced plans to acquire additional land from Kenyans for the Mombasa–Mariakani Road project.
In an official gazette notice dated September 13, 2024, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) announced it intends to acquire land parcels of different sizes ranging from 0.1-0.8 acres as the government works towards dualling the Mombasa–Mariakani (A109) Road (A109).
In the notice, Gershom Otachi, the Chairperson of the National Lands Commission (NLC) advised affected parties to avail the land plans for inspection at Ardhi House and at the National Land Commission’s County Co-ordinator’s Office in Mombasa County ahead of potential compensation.
Previously, KeNHA had acquired land from residents to dual the Mombasa–Mariakani Road in a case that ended up in court.
In 2015, KeNHA's efforts to acquire more land was met with obstacles as the residents affected sued the agency.
The petitioners claimed that due process for compulsory acquisition had not been followed and that they had not been compensated.
The government of Kenya received funding from the European Investment Bank(EIB), the German Development Bank((KfW), and the European Union-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (EU-AITF), towards the construction of the Mombasa-Mariakani (A109) Highway road project (Lot 2- Kwa Jomvu- Mariakani).
The project starts from the Kwa Jomvu interchange and follows the alignment of the existing road through Miritini, Mazeras, and Mariakani and ends just after the Mariakani weighbridge.
KeNHA is facilitating the implementation of the 30.4 KM road at a cost of Ksh 10.4 Billion.
The new project is believed to improve capacity enhancement from the current 2-way lane to a 4-way lane dual carriageway with climbing lanes and service lanes in the urban sections.
It is also aimed at the improvement of grade intersections along the project road and the construction of non-motorized facilities, pedestrian footbridges, enhanced urban drainage, truck parking facilities, and weighbridges.
