- The government is tarmacking the 24 kilometer road that will stretch from Muguga-Ngurai-Munyu-Githima-Kang’oki-Kisii and back to the Thika-Garissa highway.
- The contractor is already on site and is currently pegging the road corridor before commencing excavation works.
Image: JOHN KAMAU
Developers and residents in Gatuanyaga in Thika East will lose millions of shillings following orders to demolish structures on the area's ring road corridor.
The government is tarmacking the 24km road that will stretch from Muguga-Ngurai-Munyu-Githima-Kang’oki-Kisii and back to the Thika-Garissa highway at a cost of Sh1 billion.
Area MP Patrick Wainaina who spoke after a meeting with Kenya Urban Roads Authority officials in Thika town said that developers and residents who have encroached on the road corridor should move to allow the contractor to work without hitches.
“We don’t want delays in this project. We want it completed on the scheduled time for our own benefit and therefore anyone who has erected structures on the road corridor should move with speed and pull them down else they will be brought down at their own cost. The road design is complete and cannot be contested,” the MP said.
He said that the contractor is already on site and is currently pegging the road corridor before commencing excavation works. The road will be the first tarmacked road in Thika East since Independence.
Wainaina also warned investors against buying land in the area at the moment so as not to be duped into buying parcels on the road corridor.
The MP noted that the road will open the region up for investment, boost trade and spur the region’s economy.
“Expect land prices in Thika East villages to triple once the road is complete because accessibility to Thika town will be eased,” he said.
The road is Class B, 6.5 meters wide with provision for pedestrian walkways and a lane for cyclists, able to withstand heavy trucks that ferry stones from quarries in the area.
Some of the developers who spoke to the Star on Monday said that even if they will be counting losses, they will pull down structures they have erected on the road corridor.
“This is a valuable project that will trigger more development in this area. I am ready to pull down a section of my wall that is on the road corridor. We know the benefits we will achieve from this road and we can’t cause its delay,” said Joseph Nduati, a landlord in Gatuanyaga.
MP Wainaina announced that recarpeting of roads within Thika town will commence in January.
The government has already set aside Sh700 million for the project.
Roads that will be recarpeted within Thika CBD and its environs include Commercial, Cross, General Kago, Haile Sellasie, Harry Thuku, Kenyatta Highway, Kwame Nkuruma, Magoko, Bull and Mama Ngina.
Others are Stadium, Temple, Thika Girls, Uhuru Street, Upper Hill and Workshop roads.
Thika District Business Association chairman Alfred Wanyoike said the recarpeting of Thika town roads will provide an environment conducive to traders to do business.
“This project will not only change the face of the town but will also provide a favourable environment of doing business and we expect trade to boom as Thika gears to become a 24-hour economy,” Wanyoike said.
Edited by Henry Makori