The Kenol-Marua dual carriageway project in Kenya is set to be partially opened before the end of 2021.
The USD 273.3 million project is the country’s second most expensive road after Thika superhighway (USD 418 million). It is set to connect the Northern Corridor from Nairobi to the Lapsset Corridor in Isiolo, an African Development Bank (AfDB) financed project that is expected to link Kenya to Ethiopia.
The 84 km road project starts from Kenol Township in Murang’a through Makutano and Sagana in Kirinyaga County, proceed to Kambiti in Machakos and end at Marua in Nyeri County.
Phase-I of the project will see 36 km of road constructed from Sagana to Marua, while Phase-II will stretch for 48 km from Kenol to Sagana. The project is also scheduled to be fully completed a year earlier.
The road was to be completed in 2023. However, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) chairman Wangai Ndirangu said that the Authority was under clear instructions to have the projects ready by June 2022 for a presidential launch.
The expansion of the Kenol-Sagana-Marua highway coded A2 upon completion is expected to majorly impact the regions it cuts through, which are Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Machakos and Embu counties.