desert burner
September 3rd, 2009, 07:50 PM
Road links will decongest the city and reduce traffic jams which cost the country millions of shillings everyday in lost man-hours.May 06, 2009: Tenders for a new round of road construction to decongest major roads within the city and in residential areas will be announced in the next financial year, the Ministry of Roads has confirmed.
The project, known as the “missing links,” will include the construction of 12 short alternative roads into or out of the city centre.
For instance, an overlying road will be constructed from River Road to link Ngara area, meaning vehicles will not have to go through the proposed Globe Cinema interchange to access Ngara.
“These links will ease traffic and ensure there are no grid-locks during traffic jams,” said Ministry of Roads Permanent Secretary, Michael Kamau.
Cost millions
The masterplan for the roads has been developed by the Japanese Development Agency ( JICA), which has also committed to finance three of the link roads.
About five link roads will be financed by the European Union through part of the Sh13 billion the group pledged on Tuesday to help develop roads in Kenya starting from the next financial year until 2013.
EU has already spent Sh35 billion in road construction support since 2006.
The government will also finance some of the link roads although the PS said the total amount required to complete them is yet to be known.
Some of the ‘missing links’ roads are between Lavington and Kileleshwa, James Gichuru Road and Ngong Road and Langata to Kibera to Hurligham road, among others.
The road links will decongest the city and reduce traffic jams, which experts say cost the country million of shillings every day in lost man-hours, fuel and wear and tear of vehicles.
The link roads will complement the Nairobi Southern by-pass, Nairobi Northern and the Nairobi Eastern by-passes.
The head of the EU delegation to Kenya =, Mr Eric Van Linden, said the new commitment to support road construction through grants instead of loans is because of reforms in the roads sector that have curtailed corruption.
The links will also complement plans by the Kenya Railways Corporation and Infraco, an affiliate of the World Bank and European development agencies to develop a commuter rail service linking Nairobi to Thika, Limuru and Kitengela.
The completion of the railway system will see Nairobi served by roads, railway/trams and buses, just like other modern cities of the world.
Under the agreement, Kenya Railways is seeking to upgrade the commuter rail infrastructure in the city by introducing modern and faster trains with a capacity of at least 90,000 passengers compared to 19,000 passengers currently.
A survey done in 2007 by Zacharia King’ori, senior economist at the Ministry of Roads, found that 47 per cent of people in Nairobi prefer walking to their destinations, 29 per cent use matatus, 15.3 per cent us private cars and taxis and 3.7 million take buses.
The survey found that 7.5 million individual trips are made a day, translating to 2.5 trips a person.
The main trip flows are concentrated in the central area from and towards Westlands, followed by Kasarani and Embakasi.
Big chunk
The survey says that a big chunk of the trips from the west also emanate from Athi River and Kitengela areas, which border Nairobi and which host a big proportion of people working or trading daily in Nairobi.
The survey further found out that 93 per cent of traffic at Nairobi boundary originate or arrive at Nairobi, while seven per cent is pass- through traffic.
The project, known as the “missing links,” will include the construction of 12 short alternative roads into or out of the city centre.
For instance, an overlying road will be constructed from River Road to link Ngara area, meaning vehicles will not have to go through the proposed Globe Cinema interchange to access Ngara.
“These links will ease traffic and ensure there are no grid-locks during traffic jams,” said Ministry of Roads Permanent Secretary, Michael Kamau.
Cost millions
The masterplan for the roads has been developed by the Japanese Development Agency ( JICA), which has also committed to finance three of the link roads.
About five link roads will be financed by the European Union through part of the Sh13 billion the group pledged on Tuesday to help develop roads in Kenya starting from the next financial year until 2013.
EU has already spent Sh35 billion in road construction support since 2006.
The government will also finance some of the link roads although the PS said the total amount required to complete them is yet to be known.
Some of the ‘missing links’ roads are between Lavington and Kileleshwa, James Gichuru Road and Ngong Road and Langata to Kibera to Hurligham road, among others.
The road links will decongest the city and reduce traffic jams, which experts say cost the country million of shillings every day in lost man-hours, fuel and wear and tear of vehicles.
The link roads will complement the Nairobi Southern by-pass, Nairobi Northern and the Nairobi Eastern by-passes.
The head of the EU delegation to Kenya =, Mr Eric Van Linden, said the new commitment to support road construction through grants instead of loans is because of reforms in the roads sector that have curtailed corruption.
The links will also complement plans by the Kenya Railways Corporation and Infraco, an affiliate of the World Bank and European development agencies to develop a commuter rail service linking Nairobi to Thika, Limuru and Kitengela.
The completion of the railway system will see Nairobi served by roads, railway/trams and buses, just like other modern cities of the world.
Under the agreement, Kenya Railways is seeking to upgrade the commuter rail infrastructure in the city by introducing modern and faster trains with a capacity of at least 90,000 passengers compared to 19,000 passengers currently.
A survey done in 2007 by Zacharia King’ori, senior economist at the Ministry of Roads, found that 47 per cent of people in Nairobi prefer walking to their destinations, 29 per cent use matatus, 15.3 per cent us private cars and taxis and 3.7 million take buses.
The survey found that 7.5 million individual trips are made a day, translating to 2.5 trips a person.
The main trip flows are concentrated in the central area from and towards Westlands, followed by Kasarani and Embakasi.
Big chunk
The survey says that a big chunk of the trips from the west also emanate from Athi River and Kitengela areas, which border Nairobi and which host a big proportion of people working or trading daily in Nairobi.
The survey further found out that 93 per cent of traffic at Nairobi boundary originate or arrive at Nairobi, while seven per cent is pass- through traffic.