Infrastructure

Chinese Firm Stops Work on Kenol-Marua Highway

The 84 km road was scheduled for completion in December 2022.

Updated on

November 23, 2023

AfDB president Adenisa Akinwumi (right) with Transport CS James Macharia on May 31, 2022. PHOTO | COURTESY

Jiangxi Engineering Group has stopped work on a section of the 84-kilometre Kenol-Sagana-Marua dual carriageway due to a pending bill of Sh900 million.

The Chinese firm claims to have written to the Kenya National Highway Authority requesting the settlement of the outstanding bill but received no response.

“The decision to suspend the works is regrettable but stems from the repeated failure of the employer to fulfil its contractual obligation.

“Specifically, we draw your attention to outstanding payments totalling Sh900 million from IPC21 to IPC31 inclusive of accrued interest due to overdue payments,” Wang Ding Tao, the company’s site agent, said on Nov. 17.

Ding Tao further said that the failure to settle the amount owed had affected the Chinese company’s cash flow with suppliers of essential materials, such as fuel, resulting in the stoppage of deliveries.

The Kenol-Marua Road, which is jointly funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Kenya, has been under construction since 2020.

In June last year, the Sh16.7 billion dual carriageway was 70% complete and on schedule for completion by the end of last December, a schedule that was not met.

Jiangxi Engineering Group is undertaking the project in two lots: the first one (48km) runs from Kenol town in Murang’a County to Sagana in Kirinyaga County, while lot 2 stretches from Sagana to Marua in Nyeri County.

Both lots were said to be respectively 72% and 63% complete – with final completion of the Kenol-Marua dual carriage highway slated for last December.

AfDB had praised the Kenyan government for its effort in executing the project.

The bank’s president Adenisa Akinwumi, who inspected the project in May 2022, said Kenya’s commitment to infrastructure development had made it possible for the project to run ahead of schedule without compromising on the quality.

“The work done on this project is tremendous, I laud the Government of Kenya for picking the best contractors who are doing high quality jobs. This road will be a major boost to the economic growth of this country,” Dr Akinwumi said.

AfDB is funding the Kenol-Marua dual carriageway to the tune of Sh5.6 billion.

The Kenol Marua dual carriageway, whose construction started in Oct. 2020, is a segment of the proposed 219km Kenol-Isiolo dual carriageway – a key part of the Northern Corridor road networks.

The road starts at the Kenol/Murang’a junction (A2/B25) passing through Makutano, Sagana, and Karatina, before ending at Marua (junction A2/B5) in Nyeri County.

It is part of the Great North Road that starts from Cape Town and enters Kenya through Namanga before exiting into Ethiopia at Moyale.