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Kenya: Road Project in Limbo After China Cuts Funding
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
9 April 2008
Posted to the web 9 April 2008
Zeddy Sambu
Efforts to reduce traffic in Nairobi by improving roads have suffered yet another blow after the planned removal of roundabouts from Uhuru Highway flopped.
Ministry of Roads officials said the Chinese government scaled down the amount of money it had initially promised, thus pushing the project into limbo.
Construction of the 22 kilometre highway was to be wholly financed by the Chinese government under a deal struck between President Kibaki and President Hu Jintao. The highway was to run from Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the United Nations complex in Gigiri,
China had initially promised to provide Sh5.3 billion, but this had been scaled down to only Sh2.2 billion. Roads engineers said this amount of money can only cover the construction of an additional lane on both sides of the highway and set up the street lights.
The project was expected to improve traffic flow in Nairobi with the removal of five roundabouts on Uhuru Highway and their replacement with flyovers and underpasses. Roundabouts have been blamed for the traffic jams due to stopping of vehicle flow.
It is estimated that traffic jams cost the Kenyan economy upto Sh300 million per day in wasted man hours, wear and tear and high fuel costs.
Motoring expert Gavin Bennet, says Nairobi accounts for upto 40 per cent of the national vehicle population.
"Roundabouts are more obstructive than helpful. Removing them should be cheaper and a direct remedy to congestion in the city," he said.
The project ran into trouble immediately the deal was struck in August 2005 after it emerged that the Chinese president had promised more money than he is legally allowed to dish out under his country's laws.
The Business Daily learnt that the Roads ministry found itself in a tight spot after it was asked to urgently finance the initial stages of the construction work at a cost of Sh300 million.
The contractor,Shengli Engineering & Consulting Company of China, last week moved to the site, but only after issuing a raft of conditions to be met by the ministry.
Projects worth more than Sh80 billion are going on around the country, making it difficult for the ministry to find money for the city's needs.
Mr Mwangi Maingi , the chief roads engineer, admitted that the project had delayed partly due to haggling by Chinese contractors over the tender.
Apart from the road's expansion project, the Chinese contractor won an international tender for capacity enhancement of the Nairobi - Eldoret Pipeline System last June.
Shengli Engineering & Consulting Company along with Runji Consulting Engineers and Planners Limited beat 12 other companies to the tender after it attained the minimum 75 per cent score requirement for financial bids.
Expansion and upgrading of the Jomo Kenyatta Airport and Gigiri Highway was part of the many deals that President Kibakiand the Chinese President signed in August 2005.
A total of six agreements were signed, signalling closer economic and technical co-operation between Kenya and China. These included an agreement for China's provision of loans to Kenya and the air services agreement, that grants Kenya Airways landing rights in several Chinese cities.
Also signed were agreements on cooperation between the Ministry of Information and Communications of Kenya and its Chinese counterpart.
Kenya promised to offer Chinese businesses incentives to invest locally.
Between 2003 and 2005, bilateral trade between Kenya and China increased by 46 per cent.
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