WORK ON SH180BN NAIROBI-MAU HIGHWAY TO START IN JANUARY

The
much-awaited construction of a toll highway from Nairobi to Mau Summit is
expected to begin in January 2020, the government has disclosed.

Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban
Development Secretary James Macharia said the government will prioritise this
project, as well as the JKIA-Westlands Expressway, to gauge their successes before embarking on
other similar projects countrywide.

The two
projects, which will be completed at a combined cost of Sh242 billion, will be
undertaken on a Public Private Partnership deal in which a company builds a
highway, operates it for some years to recoup its investment before handing
over the road to the State.

The
Nairobi-Mau Summit Road will be built by Rift Valley Connect – a consortium
made up of Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci
Concessions SAS.

On the
other hand, the JKIA-Westlands Expressway will be undertaken by China Road and
Bridge Corporation.

The
scheduled start of the Nairobi-Mau Summit highway comes months after four
foreign firms moved to contest a decision by KeNHA to award the contract to
Rift Valley Connect, an appeal that was dismissed.

Rift
Valley Connect will be expected to design, finance, construct, operate,
maintain, and transfer the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit road, whose cost has now
been put at Sh180 billion up from the previous budget of Sh150 billion.

The
project will involve expansion of the 180-kilometre road into a four-lane dual
carriageway from Rironi in Limuru to Mau Summit in Nakuru County.

The scope
of work, which also involves rehabilitation of the Mai Mahiu-Naivasha Road,
will also include the erection of toll stations on the highway under a Public
Private Partnership.

“[The
contractor] will be expected to build, maintain, manage and operate the highway
and recover his money from motorists in the form of user fees,” the Kenya
National Highway Authority (KenHa) director general Peter Mundinia said in an
earlier interview.

The
contractor will operate and maintain the Southern Bypass, as well as maintain
the Gitaru to Rironi segment, whose upgrade is ongoing under the James
Gichuru-Rironi Road Project.

In 2017, KenHa disclosed that the government was planning to erect toll stations on four other major roads in the country, including Thika Road, Nairobi-Mombasa highway, Nairobi Southern Bypass, and a second Nyali bridge in Mombasa.https://www.constructionkenya.com/5250/nairobi-mau-summit-road-project/