•The state has set aside Sh4.2 billion to acquire land and another Sh3.8 billion for relocating affected entities and services
Image: COURTESY
The government has revised the design for the Sh65 billion JKIA-James Gichuru express highway so the project does not interfere with Uhuru Park, an official has said.
Infrastructure Principal Secretary Paul Maringa on Thursday told journalists that the historic park will not be touched in the construction of the road expected to ease traffic jam in Nairobi.
Maringa said the road will be constructed into a fly-over at the start of Uhuru Highway on Mombasa Road to ensure Uhuru Park land is not interfered with.
The PS was addressing a breakfast meeting with Kenya Editor's Guild. He was with Kenya National Highways Authority director-general Peter Mundinia and Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna.
Maringa said they had engaged ecological consultants to ensure that the construction of the superhighway does not infringe on the environment and important public utilities.
Munindia said the new plan will ensure no buildings or entities are brought down to pave way for construction.
Only the Boulevard Hotel and Nextgen Mall will have their fences breached, the director said.
The state has set aside Sh4.2 billion for acquiring land and another Sh3.8 billion for relocating affected entities and services, Maringa said.
Mundinia said the four-lane road will have its pillars installed between the lanes of Uhuru Highway with the existing lanes retained for usage by those who may not need to use the expressway.
The initial design for the showed part of Uhuru Park would be sliced much to the chagrin of activists and conservationists.
The expressway will be constructed through a Public-Private Partnership between the government and China Road and Bridge Corporation. Upon completion by 2021, the corporation will manage the road for 27 years to recover its investment.
Using the road will require payment of toll charges at a tariff of Sh11.24 per kilometre, an upward revision from Sh6 which was proposed by a 2015 study.
This means that users of the road will be required to pay Sh300 for using the road one way and Sh600 for a round trip, translating to Sh18,000 for a month for a daily round trip usage. Tuktuk and motorbike users will not be charged.
"The toll charge is about giving members of the public an opportunity to contribute towards public welfare," Maringa said. "You only get to use the highway because you are inconvenienced and you can afford it."
Editors' Guild chairman Churchill Otieno asked the government to expand walkways and crossing bridges for pedestrians.
He asked the state to sensitise wananchi on the social costs they are set to pay for using the road.
edited by peter obuya