Nasa wants to build a highway from Mombasa to Malaba. Jubilee's already building it

Did Nasa put a road project that Jubilee is already implementing in its manifesto?

“… They’ve said they are going to do the dual carriage-way from Mombasa to Nakuru to Malaba. For your information, that is a programme we advertised last year. That’s already done. I don’t know why they want to put it in a manifesto, something that has been done by Jubilee. In fact we are in the final stages of working that out….”

Deputy President William Ruto during an Interview on Sunday Live on July 2

Section five of the National Super Alliance manifesto has a section which focuses on transport and communication stating that the alliance’ mission is to isolate remoteness with the goal of integrating Kenya.

The manifesto promises that a Nasa government will complete work on a series of roads linking counties close to Lake Victoria. The initiative is known as the Lake Victoria Ring Road project. In the manifesto implementing document, NASA pledges to expand the Mombasa-Malaba highway into a four-lane dual carriageway.

Nation Newsplex sought information that could confirm that the government is currently engaged in dualling the highway from Mombasa to Malaba. Enquiries revealed that the government is proceeding with the project in at least two parts.

The first is the expansion of the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway. On June 14, 2017, Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) director-general Peter Mundinia told the Business Daily that talks were underway with the export import bank of the United States to dual the highway and work is expected in 2018.

NAIROBI TO RIRONI

This information is corroborated by a press release from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which is the development finance institution of the United States.

In 2016, OPICsigned a letter of intentwith the Kenyan government to finance the project and agreement with US Engineering Firm Bechtel. It is not clear if Bechtel has won any part of the project.

The first part of the project, the duelling of the Mombasa Mariakani highway, was launched on July 19, 2017 by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The project was awarded to the Third China Engineering Company, and according to the 2017 Treasury sector report on Energy, Infrastructure and Information, Communications Technology, the contract was signed on November 1, 2016.

Currently, there is a dual carriageway from Nairobi to Rironi, near Limuru in Kiambu County. In November 2016, the government issued a project information memorandum for the Nairobi - Nakuru - Mau Summit Highway. The project is supposed to widen to a four-lane separated highway from Rironi to Mau Summit, a distance of 175 Km. That would leave about 240 km from Mau Summit to Malaba, on the Ugandan border.

In February this year, KeNHA stated that 10 foreign firms had bid to expand the Riron- Mau Summit Road.

There is strong evidence that the highway from Mombasa to Malaba is being expanded to a dual carriageway. Nasa has included the road project in the implementing document of its manifesto, titled Road to Kenyan Dream.