The President of the Republic of Kenya President; Uhuru Kenyatta has taken part in the signing of a 160 Billion Kenyan Shillings deal with the French VINCI Consortium. This deal will include the upgrading of the 233 kilometre road network that starts from Rironi in Kiambu County, goes through Nakuru and ends at the Mau Summit on the outskirts of Naivasha town.
The deal with the French VINCI Consortium which is seen by observers as the biggest Public and Private Partnership for a road project in Africa will see the Rironi to Mai Mahiu to Naivasha road network, get upgraded to an impressive 7 metre carriage way, with 2 meter shoulders attached on both sides.
A 4 kilometre elevated highway going through Nakuru town will be constructed as well, alongside more improvements and construction of interchanges along the highway.
The Rironi to Mai Mahiu to Naivasha road network is the main route for the proposed Naivasha Industrial Park, the Naivasha Inland Container Depot (ICD), as well as traffic to and from Narok, Nothern Tanzania and South Western Kenya. The road network is also part of the Northern Corridor, which ends in Malaba and starts from Mombasa.
The Northern corridor plays a very important role in the transportation of people and of course goods between Western part and Eastern part of Kenya. It also enables landlocked nations like South Sudan, Rwanda and Uganda, to move goods easily to and from the port of Mombasa County.
The Kenya Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development & Public Works, the French VINCI Consortium (which comprises of Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund (MIAF), VINCI Highways SAS,band VINCI Concessions SAS), and the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), are all involved in the new deal.
The expansion of the Rironi to Mai Mahiu to Naivasha road network will be carried out under a PPP financing model which will see the concessionaire financing, designing, building, maintaining, and operating the road for a period of time before handing over to the Kenyan government.
VINCI Concessions SAS as at the time of writing this article, is the world’s largest provider of services with regards to infrastructure concessions. VINCI Highways SAS on the other hand, is the largest construction company outside China.
The Rironi to Mai Mahiu to Naivasha road network accommodates more than 20,000 vehicles every day. The amount of vehicles is also steadily increasing at a rate of 4 percent per year.
The expansion of the road network will hopefully help reduce its traffic congestion.
The new highway will in turn hopefully help facilitate the proper management of heavy commercial vehicvehicles, reduce the occurrence of road accidenaccidents and boost the flow of traffic.
The new road will also be designed to efficiently link with the numerous other traffic infrastructure systems currently under construction alongside those that are already in use.
Other projects along the Northern Corridor that are on the way include the expansion of the ports of Kisumu and Mombasa, the construction of the 600km Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Naivasha, the expansion of the James Gichuru Junction to Rironi Road, Athi River to Machakos turnoff road, the Mombasa to Mariakani Road, and the construction of the Nairobi Expressway.
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