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City targets roundabouts to ease traffic flow


A comprehensive plan to decongest traffic in Nairobi is to be implemented in the next few weeks.

Infrastructure Principal Secretary John Mosonik on Thursday said five contractors had been awarded the tender to begin work on 60 major junctions within the city.

“The Sh900 million project will create accelerating and decelerating lanes in 60 junctions within Nairobi so that instead of people blocking roundabouts, they can move faster using lanes like the one at the Kenyatta National Hospital roundabout joining Mbagathi Way. Within eight months we should be through with this,” Mr Mosonik said.

OVERPASS

The construction of an overpass from the Likoni Road junction on Mombasa Road to Museum Hill roundabout will also begin.

The project that was first unveiled in 2012, was to be financed by the World Bank at an estimated cost of $200 million (about Sh18 billion).

Mr Mosonik outlined plans for the Mass rapid Transport (MRT) system as a long term initiative to further reduce city traffic snarl-ups.

“You will be seeing tenders within this month for the overpass from Likoni road junction along Mombasa road all the way to Museum hill to ease traffic across Nairobi as medium-term plan.

‘‘On the long-term, we are going to create a mass rapid transport system where we create five lanes for city bound buses,” the infrastructure boss said.

The Southern by-pass from Ole-Sereni to Kikuyu across Lang’ata road was designed to reduce congestion caused mainly by trucks from Mombasa to western parts of the country which have to cross the city along Uhuru Highway.

The proposed overpass will eliminate five roundabouts including the Nyayo, Bunyala, Haile Selassie, Kenyatta avenue and the University Way round about.

PUT ON NOTICE

The ministry also put contractors on notice against what it described as “doing shoddy jobs.”

Such firms would face blacklisting from all government construction tenders if their works fell below standards.

Contracts would also be immediately terminated.

The principal secretary did not, however, immediately disclose how many contractors had been discontinued only generalising the culprits as “some.”