More than 4,300 km of roads will be either upgraded or constructed across the Great Lakes countries
A US$960 million process of constructing and upgrading two key roads in Nairobi through public/private partnerships as part of the multinational Northern Corridor Transport Improvement Project (NCTIP) has begun.
The government of Kenya recently signed an agreement with Japan for partial funding of the construction of the Nairobi Western Ring Road. Japan gave Kenya an initial US$420,000 grant for the project.
NCTIP is a multi billion-dollar road and air-transport program that seeks to link the Great Lakes countries to Kenya ’s seaport of Mombasa.
The countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. More than 4,300 km of roads will be either upgraded or constructed across these nations.
The World Bank has pledged US$460 million in financial aid for the project. Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said during the signing of the US$420,000 grant from Japan that Kenya is seeking additional financial aid to finance the project. The tendering process for design and construction works will be carried out by the Ministry of Roads in accordance with Japan’s Grant Aid guidelines.
The grant comes just months after Kenya granted concessions for 106 kilometers of its highway system to two foreign infrastructure development companies—Austria’s Strabag and Israel’s Shikun & Biuni—for the US$893-million deal that was approved by the country’s Parliament last December.
Under the 30-year concession, which takes effect in 2014, the two firms will expand the Nairobi Southern Bypass motorway (45km long). They will also build a four lane 5.9 km long road in the city while demolishing 7 roundabouts blamed for the city’s traffic jam.
Update (April 23, 2011) – Government terminates construction of Nairobi Toll Road.
The government is already negotiating with China for the financing of another US$20-billion section of NCTIP. This section will include the construction of Lamu Port plus road and rail links, an oil pipeline to southern Sudan and Ethiopia and an oil refinery at Lamu.
Update (November 25, 2010) – Chinese firms beat Kenyan ones on projects.
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