Construction of 1.2 kilometer six-lane concrete Kipevu road in Mombasa County has been completed. The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) confirmed the report and said the road is set to facilitate easy movement of cargo.
The road project is part of the improvement and expansion programme at the port of Mombasa. It is sited near Chaani and extends from Changamwe roundabout to KPA Gate 18 with an additional 200m inside the port area.
The project involved replacing the old four-lane road and was was co-financed by KPA and Trademark East Africa (TMEA) to the tune of Sh 2billion. KPA General Manager Infrastructure Development, Vincent Sidai said that the construction of the new road was necessitated after it was noted that the ground had continued becoming unstable and could not withstand the increased frequency of heavy commercial trucks plying the route due to the increased capacity at the Port.
Boost port capacity
“Initially, the existing four lane dual carriageway also suffered with increased traffic leading to bottling at the Changamwe roundabout thus effectively disrupting fluidity of cargo movement,” said Eng Sidai.
In addition, Eng Sidai said that the road will also accommodate a 40 metres railway bridge with two cells for vehicles and a gate canopy for custom and security purposes. It is set to boost port capacity by improving in and out flow of traffic with other economic benefits including improved service delivery, reduced congestion at the Port through faster truck turnaround and reduced delays with faster Gate clearance.
“The road is predicted to improve productivity and ultimately reduce cost of doing business hence affordable consumer goods,” said the engineer.
The ongoing expansion programme includes the construction of Sh32 billion phase two of the second container terminal to transform the port into a logistics hub in the region. Phase one of the second container terminal built at a cost of Sh26 billion which involved reclaiming of a sea area of about 50 acres creating 550,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEUs) capacity was commissioned in 2016.
