KeNHA Awards Ksh17B Highway Project to Chinese Firm

Former president Uhuru Kenyatta touring the Lamu Port on September 8, 2019.
Former president Uhuru Kenyatta touring the Lamu Port on September 8, 2019.
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Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has awarded a new Ksh17 billion highway project to a Chinese firm.

In a special ceremony hosted on Monday, April 19, KeNHA Director General Peter Mundinia signed a tender award to China Communication Construction Company.

The company received the Ksh17 billion tender for the construction of Lamu - Ijara - Garissa highway in a period of 36 months.

The company was directed to upgrade the highway, which is 196 kilometers long, to all-weather gravel standards.

KeNHA Director General Peter Mundinia (second left) holds the signed tender award to China Communication Construction Company alongside the firm's officials
KeNHA Director General Peter Mundinia (second left) holds the signed tender award to China Communication Construction Company alongside the firm's officials.
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The project is part of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project and consists of spur roads associated with the highway.

The highway is the first part of a Ksh25 billion road construction project that the state is expected to undertake in Lamu County stretching 250 kilometers.

The other sections which are yet to be tendered include a 15-kilometer part that is Hindi to Kiunga.

KeNHA Chairman Wangai Ndirangu, a week ago, revealed that the project's had already been budgeted for in the current financial year.

“The two security roads will have a two-pronged effect in improving security within the Lamu-Boni area, as well as opening up the area for future investors once the Lamu Port operationalisation takes off later this year,” stated Ndirangu.

Gravel works on the project are reportedly in progress.

Once complete, the highway will form a permanent route for ferrying goods along the Northern Corridor all the way up to Southern Ethiopia. 

This comes a day after Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia issued an ultimatum to engineers from China Wu Yi firm over the delays in the Ksh16 billion Waiyaki way expansion project.

The project involves the expansion of the 25km James Gichuru-Rironi Road stretch along Waiyaki Way into a superhighway. The project, which began in 2017, had been slated to be completed in December 2020.

The CS said that the delays were becoming more frequent, and gave an ultimatum for the road to be completed by the end of July 2021.

Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia speaking at KICC on March 17, 2016.
Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia speaking at KICC on March 17, 2016.
Daily Nation