Roads under the Nairobi Regeneration Programme are to be completed by end of July this year, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority has said.
The Sh2.87 billion project launched last year targets the road network in Eastlands area which was said to be in a 'substandard state' with most roads impassable especially during the rainy season.
Kura Director General Engineer Silas Kinoti said on Thursday that the project is over 50 per cent complete with works currently ongoing.
"We are doing road by road. We are optimistic that all the 38 roads will be completed in five months," Kinoti said.
While appearing before the Nairobi County Assembly Transport committee, Kinoti said the authority had divided the project into three phases; a 32-kilometre, 25.5 kilometres and 22.8 kilometres road network.
Three Chinese companies were awarded tenders for the three slots.
Stecol Corporation was awarded Sh950.6 million, China Roads and Bridges Corporation Sh1 billion and China Wu Yi Compnany Sh895.6 million for the project.
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"Most of the works kicked off last year in September and some of the roads are almost done," Kinoti said.
The project is in collaboration with the Nairobi County Government.
The county was to contribute Sh900 million while the authority contributes Sh1.97 billion.
However, Kinoti said that the county has only remitted Sh100 million but this has not hindered the progress of the project.
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According to the Comparative Statistics Trends for 2017-2018 Report, Nairobi County recorded the highest number of fatalities, with Outer Ring Road being declared the riskiest.
Another report by the National Transport and Safety Authority last year ranked Outering road among the deadliest roads in the capital with a record of 31 deaths.
Other roads included in this category were Mombasa road and Waiyaki Way.
They were faulted for not having adequate measures in place to facilitate effective non-motorised transport.
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"The problem is not the design, but how people use roads as non-motorised traffic. We have set up walkways and designated areas where pedestrians are supposed to cross but many of them prefer to jump over guard rails which can result in accidents," Kinoti explained.
Despite having policemen at those pedestrian crossings, Kura says that some pedestrians still don’t want to use them.
Kinoti said that Outering road was opened before it was fully complete because there was pressure to open the carriageways for the roads to be used.
However, he said a lot of work is needed to be done to ensure that the road is okay in terms of safety and movement of traffic.
At the moment, only four footbridges have been erected along the 80.3km road with seven more still to come.