Covid-19 is among the challenges the contractor of the final phase of the Ngong Road dualling project has been facing.
However, the project is 79 per cent complete, according to the Kenya Urban Roads Authority.
The construction was due for completion in July, but the contractor had to relocate electricity, water and sewer lines as well as dealing with Covid-19 containment measures.
“The pandemic has forced the contractor to scale down road construction and reduce the workforce in a bid to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines,” Kura’s corporate communications manager Stephen Njogu said.
The ongoing construction is causing huge traffic snarl-ups during morning and evening rush hours.
China Qinjian is the contractor of the Sh2 billion 9.8-kilometre stretch from Dagoretti Corner to Karen Shopping Centre.
Njogu said 22 per cent of the sub-contractors had been downsized due to the coronavirus and limited sources of materials, a condition also blamed on the pandemic.
The road will have five footbridges and five lanes, with walkways and cycle tracks on both sides.
The expansion is in line with the Bus Rapid Transport project to be implemented to reduce traffic congestion to and from Nairobi.
President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the first phase in 2016. This phase, which starts at the Kenya National Library to Prestige Plaza, was completed on December 17, 2017.
It was built by World Kaihatsu Kogyo, a Japanese company, at a cost of Sh1.3 billion. It covers three kilometres.
Phase 2 is a four-kilometre stretch from Prestige Plaza to Dagoretti Corner. It was completed on April 30, this year, by the same Japanese contractor at a cost of Sh2 billion.
Three pedestrian footbridges are to be built at the Kenyatta National Hospital gate, Coptic Church, and the Kenya Science Technical College in the next 18 months.
The footbridges will ease the movement of vehicles, which are now forced to stop to allow patients, students, and other users to cross the road.
According to Kura, the government invests over Sh300 billion annually on roads which are among the drivers of Vision 2030 and Agenda 4. The two economic blueprints are intended to propel Kenya into a medium-income level country in the next few years.
The improvement of non-motorised transport, installation of street and traffic lights, guard rails, traffic signs, and other amenities are vital components of modern road infrastructure.
- mwaniki fm
