Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has issued an ultimatum to engineers from China Wu Yi firm over the delays in the Sh 16billion Waiyaki way expansion project. The CS said that the delays were becoming more frequent and ordered the project to be completed by the end of July 2021.
“I thought we’re coming to prepare for the commissioning, but now it cannot be done because the road is not yet ready. What we want now is to get a firm commitment that the road will be completed in the next two months,” said CS Macharia.
The billion shilling project involves the expansion of the 25km James Gichuru-Rironi Road stretch along Waiyaki Way into a superhighway. The project, which began in 2017, was slated to be completed in December 2020.
Vision 2030
“We cannot grant more time. The project was to be done by December 2020, pushed to February 2021, then April and now you want December? It can’t work like that,” added the CS.
In their defense, the firm claimed that the delays were caused by unavoidable circumstances. According to Engineer Sanjay Kumar works is currently 85% complete. He affirmed that 3-kilometer stretch would be finished in due time.
The project is running concurrently with the erection of the Nairobi Expressway which will connect Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the neighborhood of Rironi, in Kiambu County, along the Nairobi-Limuru Road. The project involves a four-lane and six-lane dual carriageway within the existing median of Mombasa Road/Uhuru Highway/Waiyaki Way and 10 interchanges.
The road projects are under the government’s priority in modernisation of the country’s infrastructure under Vision 2030 which aims to create a globally competitive and prosperous country with a high quality of life for all its citizens.
