Kenya: Rironi-Naivasha Highway to Open By Oct 30, CS Chirchir Says

What the report says

Kenya’s Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir said the Rironi-Naivasha stretch of the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit highway is expected to be completed and opened to traffic by October 30, according to Capital FM as republished by AllAfrica. The section is part of the wider effort to upgrade one of the country’s busiest transport corridors, which carries heavy commuter and freight traffic along the Northern Corridor.

The report said the first phase covers about 139 kilometres and includes the Rironi-Naivasha-Gilgil and Rironi-Maai Mahiu-Naivasha links. The project is being delivered under a public-private partnership involving China Road and Bridge Corporation and the National Social Security Fund, using a design-finance-build-operate-maintain-and-transfer model. Chirchir said work is already advancing on multiple fronts, with earthworks, widening and drainage works under way.

The government has divided the corridor between contractors, with CRBC handling the Rironi-Gilgil section and Shandong Hi-Speed Road and Bridge International Engineering Company responsible for the Gilgil-Nakuru-Mau Summit section. The broader upgrade is intended to reduce congestion, shorten travel times and improve safety on a route used heavily by trucks moving cargo between the Port of Mombasa, western Kenya and neighbouring countries.

The article also said the road will eventually operate as a toll facility, and that the Kenya National Highways Authority has proposed a tariff of Sh8 per kilometre for the relevant sections. While the government had earlier projected completion of the wider corridor in 2027, the new date would allow motorists to use the first completed segment while construction continues elsewhere.