El Nino prediction forces KeNHA to repair Nairobi roads
The Kenya National Highways Authority has completed rehabilitation and maintenance of drainage systems along roads in Nairobi ahead of the expected rainy season.
The last phase of the works was completed last week to ensure rain water flows freely across the drainages in order to avert flooding incidents along the highways.
Maintenance of the roads within the county was done in three phases at a cost of Sh 50million financed by the national government through the Authority.
Speaking during an inspection tour of the roads, the Authority’s Acting Director General Linus Tonui said the move will ensure the roads are safe for motorists throughout the rainy season.
He added that a major excavation of the drainage near General Motors (GM) along Mombasa Road was done to ensure Imara Daima area does not flood this season.
“This is a major route heading towards the airport and it is an embarrassment to Kenyans those international investors and leaders have to see this state of our roads, thus we had to act fast and repair them,” Engineer Tonui said.
MAINTENANCE WORKS
The GM drainage was in the first phase of the rehabilitation and maintenance works along with the installation of culvert at the U-turn near the same spot, stone pitching of the drain from the U-turn past the GM footbridge to the close culvert and painting of the street lights from JKIA to Likoni road.
The second phase was from Likoni road towards Museum Hill road with excavation of materials along the drains, repair of cabro blocks at various sections between Nyayo Stadium roundabouts to Haile Selassie and installation of 1200mm culverts near Makaburini area which will be wider than before.
The Limuru road stretch from Forest Road to Gigiri was in the last phase where laying of paving slabs between Aga Khan Primary and Total petrol station was done along with installation of guard rails and patching potholes a various parts of the road.
The three phases had been awarded to different contractors to speed up the rehabilitation and maintenance works before the rains start.
The Kenya Meteorological Department last week warned that the rains, which are likely to begin in October and end in November or December, will be the worst in 40 years.
In a statement the Department’s Director James Kongoti said that the signs of the El Nino phenomenon start showing in April or May, a period that was characterized by unusually heavy rains in Nairobi.