Dualling of 40km Mtwapa-Kilifi road set to start

The national government has finally begun fast-tracking the dualling of the 40km Mtwapa-Kilifi road along the Mombasa-Malindi highway.

This is after the National Land Commission (NLC) published a gazette notice on the compensation negotiations with individuals who will be affected by the dualling of the Nyali Bridge-Mtwapa-Kwa Kadzengo-Kilifi (A7) road section.

The road is part of the 460km Malindi-Tanga-Bagamoyo East African coastal corridor development project. In December 2020, the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a Sh38.4 billion financing package for the project, a few months after the European Union had contributed a grant of Sh3.3 billion.

The transnational highway between Kenya and Tanzania is expected to ease the flow of traffic from both Mombasa and Tanga ports towards the land-locked countries of East Africa.

In the gazette notice, the chairman of the National Land Commission (NLC) Gershon Omanwa informed more than 70 landowners who will be affected by the construction to attend the compensation talks which will start next month.

"In Pursuance of section 112 of the Land Act, 2012 and further to the Kenya Gazette Nos. 8482 and 10259 of 2020, the NLC on behalf of the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) gives notice of inquiry for hearing of claims to compensate for interested parties in the land required for the dualling of Nyali Bridge (Mombasa) –Mtwapa –Kwa Kadzengo –Kilifi (A107) Road project in Mombasa and Kilifi counties shall be held in February,” said the NLC boss.

The compensation talks will be held in February on diverse dates at Takaungu, Mtwapa, Shanzu, Maweni and Kongowea chiefs camps.

In 2018, the government spent thousands of shillings in evicting more than 500 traders who had set up stalls outside the Kongowea market where the road is expected to extend in preparation for the project.

Traders incurred losses running into millions when KeNHA flattened their stalls.

Last week, CS James Macharia who inspected preliminary construction works, said the project will soon be launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“The government is dualling this road, as well as the Nyali bridge-Mtwapa road section, to ease congestion on the Mombasa-Malindi highway,” said the CS.

President Kenyatta's administration has invested majorly in infrastructural development as his legacy projects.

This comes as the government is completing Dongo Kundu bypass which is around 80 percent complete. The project will open the southern part of the Coast.

President Uhuru and his Tanzania counterpart Samia Suluhu signed an agreement to complete the Malindi-Tanga-Bagamoyo East African Coastal Corridor development project to spur growth between the two countries.

The highway which will run through Malindi, Mombasa and Lunga Lunga on the Kenyan side and Horohoro, Tanga and Bagamoyo on the Tanzanian side will cost approximately Sh75.1 billion.

“The project will have spillover benefits for hinterland countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan that depend on Mombasa as the gateway to global markets,” said AfDB.

AfDB is financing 70 percent of the coastal highway while the governments of Kenya and Tanzania will cover the remaining 30 percent.

The Pan-African lender said both the Kenya and Tanzania governments had finalized plans to pave the way for the construction of the coastal highway.

AfDB says the road is a key component of the East African transport corridors network, connecting Kenya and Tanzania with linkages for neighbouring countries in the region.

[email protected]