Leo ni Kuthuku (bad)...haiii

I was in that traffic coming to Nairofi, wee that was a bit much. They should consider upgrading m-rd soonest.

Mombasa is not in Central, hence not important.

Thursday February 3, 2011.

The World Bank has issued a conditional offer to finance the construction of a multi-billion shilling pay-for-use road to ease traffic jams around Nairobi.

Country representative Johannes Zutt, said the institution would only finance the project once the selected contractor-Strabag International complied with its social and environmental safeguards including land acquisition and legal provisions in Kenya.

“If the government of Kenya so desires, the World Bank Group would be prepared to finance a concession undertaken by Strabag, on the condition that Strabag agrees to expand its integrity compliance procedures and training programmes to cover the company more completely,” he said in a statement on Wednesday without expounding.

The project dubbed Nairobi Toll Road (NTR) would entail paving of the 77-kilometre road between the Athi River Junction on Mombasa Road and Kikuyu on Naivasha Highway.

Though the project was to be started two years ago the ground breaking is yet to come to fruition after the World Bank raised several objections over Strabag’s involvement.

“As for the concession of the flyover which collapsed; we are back at it again. The World Bank has granted us money for the preparation of that project. We are working on it and we expect to go to the World Bank Board maybe in March next year to get the funds. So the preparation is now on full blast,

Top Ministry of Finance and Roads officials are in Washington DC to negotiate with the World Bank for the revival of the collapsed Nairobi-Urban Toll Road, this time as a Sh34billion public-funded project. The issue is being pursued as a matter of urgency because as Thika Road nears completion, the amount of traffic that is expected to pour into Uhuru Highway could cripple traffic movement.

Finance Minister Njeru Githae said yesterday that officials including Treasury permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua, Roads PS Michael Kamau, Kenya National Highway Authority officials and other technical teams from the ministries are negotiating with World Bank technical teams for funding to the tune of US$300million (Sh25billion) for the project. “We have a full team from Treasury and the Ministry of Roads there,” Githae said. “The good news is that the technical team of the World Bank has actually approved, subject to the approval of the World Bank board, US$300m. We are required as government to contribute about $100m (Sh8.3bn).”