Plans Underway for 1,600km Mombasa-Kigali Highway

Plans are in top gear to construct a superhighway from Mombasa in Kenya to Kigali in Rwanda, to ease transport costs and enhance regional trade.

Construction of the six-lane Mombasa-Kigali road, which is inspired by the N1 highway that runs from Cape Town (South Africa) to Harare (Zimbabwe), is scheduled to start in 2016.

The Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha), in a charter agreed upon by 13 state agencies, has committed to work with road agencies from Uganda and Rwanda in building the 1,600 km highway within three to 10 years.

The multi-billion-shilling project is being carried out in anticipation of the increased volume of transit cargo in East Africa as regional economies continue to expand.

Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda are also investing billions of shillings in the proposed Mombasa to Kigali standard gauge railway (SGR) to ease traffic congestion on the Northern Corridor.

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“As traffic increases on the Northern Corridor, we will expand it into a superhighway. It is a work in progress and we will start with the most congested areas,” Kenha Director General Meshack Kidenda said.

According to TradeMark East Africa, a donor agency that will be facilitating the project, the proposed highway should be equipped with modern technology such as high-speed weigh-in-motion systems and speed cameras.

Tmea country director, Dr Chris Kiptoo said: “We need to modernise both the road and the train. Cargo carried by road is easier to divert to cities and towns that are not necessarily along the corridor. With the train, you cannot stop anywhere you wish or easily divert cargo,”

The planned highway will have no weighbridges or roadblocks – meaning cargo from the port of Mombasa will get to the final destination without stops along the way.

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