KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE SIGNS DEAL TO ALLOW COMPLETION OF SOUTHERN BYPASS
(Posted 01st November 2015)
The stalled road works for the completion of the Southern Bypass, a key component to de-congest the Nairobi city centre, are now expected to resume after the Kenya Wildlife Service has formally signed an easement agreement with the Kenyan Ministry of Transport and the Kenya National Highway Authority. Some 53 acres of land along the park boundary line will be available now for the contractor to close the link between the two completed sections, and will run from near the Ole Sereni Hotel off the main road to and from the airport to near the Carnivore Restaurant close to the Wilson Airport.
The deal was finally signed on Friday after the Board of Trustees of the Kenya Wildlife Service had finally agreed to the easement agreement, a decision a source close to the organization termed as ‘very hard but in the national interest’.
The delay of almost half a year resulted in continued major traffic jams along the main highways through the city of Nairobi, where the Uhuru Highway from the Nyayo Stadium to Waiyaki Way is often described by stuck motorists as Nairobi’s longest parking lot.
Both the Northern and Southern Bypass and other key road projects routing traffic from the Mombasa Highway destined for upcountry around the city centre are crucial to provide faster road access for commuters in and out of the city, combined with ongoing work on a commuter rail project.
The next major construction projects running along the same park boundary will be the Standard Gauge Railway, when it reaches Nairobi with reports suggesting that some 70 percent of the route from Mombasa to the capital is already well advanced, as also recently seen during a tour along the new SGR route in Tsavo East.
