Construction of Sh60 Billion JKIA Overpass to Begin in March 2019

Construction of an overpass from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) will begin in March 2019, the government has announced.

Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia says the 28-kilometer flyover will link JKIA with Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) and end at Kangemi area on Waiyaki Way.

Macharis says the road will run over the railway yard at the Central Railway Station and will be completed in 15 months time.

" Come January next year, a contractor for the project will be picked and actual works will be expected to start in March," Macharia says as quoted by the Star.

The Sh60 billion viaduct is expected to reduce the time taken to drive from JKIA to the city center and vice versa as well as ease traffic congestion within the city.

Nairobi County Transport Executive Mohammed Dagane says the viaduct is part of Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Master Plan whose aim is to decongest the Kenyan capital.

" We are promising a brighter future ahead for Nairobi,' Dagane says.

Last month, CS Macharia said engineers were putting final touches on the design of the highway.

“Right now, we have engineers who are testing the soil at JKIA. It is no longer mere talks. We have done the bypasses around the city of Nairobi, we have done the Southern, Eastern and Northern bypass and about a month ago we signed for Western bypass."

"It critically important to make sure that people can go round the city of Nairobi without getting into the city,” Macharia told Daily Nation.