- The expansion of the highway is one of the key priorities that the government wants to embark on in the next four years.
- President Ruto on Thursday unveiled the Fourth Medium Term Plan which is the last phase of the Vision 2030 projects.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto’s administration has committed to dualling the Naivasha-Nakuru highway to Malaba by 2027.
This is one of the priority areas that the Kenya Kwanza government wants to implement over the next four years as part of the Medium Term Plan unveiled by Ruto on Thursday.
The road, which is strategic as it connects Nairobi to the Western part of Kenya, has been witnessing traffic snarl-ups that have proved costly for motorists and claimed lives.
Also contained in the final phase of the Vision 2030 implementation plan is the construction of phase 2B of the Standard Gauge Railway from Naivasha to Kisumu which covers 262km.
The government will also prioritise phase 2C of the SGR from Kisumu to Malaba(107km) and the Lamu-Mariakani and Miritini-Mombasa stretch which is about 30km.
The Ruto government wants to construct 6,000km of new roads and upgrade 101,755 km of rural roads to gravel stands.
It will also ensure routine maintenance of 105,000km of urban roads and highways and the construction of a second 6km Nyali Bridge at Mombasa.
By 2027, the government wants to complete the Nairobi Railway City urban development programme that seeks to relocate residents of Kibera and Mukuru by constructing 1,101 relocation units.
It will also rehabilitate and overhaul 31 Medium Gauge Railway and 56 SGR locomotives and acquire 60 MDG and 21 SGR locomotives.
Under the fourth Medium Term Plan, the government intends to construct a 21km Nairobi Central Station MGR link to JKIA and also revamp the 118km Voi-Taveta MGR.
“The infrastructure aims to provide cost-effective public utilities and essential services to promote social-economic development across the country,’’ reads the Medium Term Plan launched on Thursday.
The government projects that the infrastructure component of its medium-term plan priorities will contribute about 5.9 per cent to the country’s income from the current 4.9 per cent.
The government identified infrastructure among the five sectors that will drive the economy in the Fourth Medium Term including Finance and production, social, Environment, natural resources and governance and public administration.
The Fourth Medium Term Plan is the last phase of the multi-billion government programmes aimed at actualising Vision 2030’s economic turnaround objectives.
Motorists have been urging the government to prioritise the dualling of the Naivasha-Nakuru Mau Summit –Malaba highway to reduce road accidents
The process of making the Nairobi-Nakuru highway a dual carriageway to Mau Summit was started during the Uhuru Kenyatta administration in 2019.
In July 2022, the African Development Bank committed to injecting Sh18 billion into the project, whose total cost was estimated at Sh160 billion.
It was to be done under a public-private partnership arrangement with a consortium of contractors undertaking it to recover the costs over 30 years from users who were to pay toll fees.
However, the government decided it would source funds for the project to eliminate the toll fee.