Southern Bypass work set to start this week

Work on the Southern Bypass project starts this week and service providers in the area have been directed to relocate. Kenya Power and the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company are some of the utility providers who have been directed by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority to move their infrastructure to allow for the construction of the road.

In 1990’s the Kenyan government with the support of Japanese government undertook detailed design studies for the proposed Nairobi Bypass aimed at decongesting the city. The study proposed additional bypasses which included the construction of missing links, the almost completed Eastern and Northern bypasses, and the Thika superhighway.

Kura said yesterday that the China Road and Bridge Construction Company has been awarded the contract of Sh17.2 billion to build the dual carriageway. The government will fund 15 per cent of the cost while 85 per cent (Sh14.6billion) is a concessional loan from Exxim Bank of China. "The loan agreement was signed on November 28 last year and the contractor is ready to commence the construction. It is expected to take between 30-36months to be completed," said Kura's corporate affairs manager John Cheboi.

CRBC is the company that built the Northern bypass and is about to complete the Eastern bypass. Cheboi added that with the provision of the National Park corridor all the road reserves have been acquired with the latest being through a Gazette Notice No. 9230 and No. 9229 of 29thJuly, 2011which revoked titles of irregular allocation of land along the Northern and Southern parts of Mombasa Road corridor. ‘The Government has already negotiated reparation to compensate Kenya Wildlife Service for allowing the Southern Bypass road cut through an arch of Nairobi National Park near Wilson Airport. The reparation will be used to procure additional land for the National Park to promote its ecological sustainability,’ added Cheboi.

According to KURA, the dual carriageway is one of the Vision 2030 flagship projects and will provide Nairobi City with an essential corridor for fast transit traffic and facilitate quick diversion movement of the urban traffic. It connects Mombasa Road from Ole Sereni Hotel to Langata Road and moves through Kibera and Karen to join Nakuru Highway at Rironi near Limuru. Construction of the Southern Bypass will ensure that transit vehicles, especially heavy trucks destined for neighbouring countries, are removed from the Nyayo Stadium – City Centre – Westlands section of the highway.