NAIROBI – Kenya plans to build a high speed expressway to boost trade in the Eastern Africa region, officials said on Saturday.

Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) Director General Peter Mundinia said that the 473km expressway will vastly improve the connectivity, efficiency and safety of road transport between Nairobi and the country’s main seaport of Mombasa.

"It will serve as a central part of Kenya’s national transport system, helping to promote trade and development in Kenya and further into Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Mundinia said in a statement released in Nairobi.

The road will be completed in ten sections in the next six years. Mundinia said that the project has been structured to achieve early completion under a fast track delivery model with concurrent design and construction.

The expressway will be designed for consistent speed of 120 km/h and will reduce the journey between Nairobi and Mombasa from over ten hours to approximately four hours.

The road will have four lanes with a provision for future increase to six lanes and 19 interchanges. The director general noted that the expressway will enable Kenya to competitively develop and expand internal and regional trade.

"More than 90 per cent of goods landing at the Mombasa Port are currently transported by road and this infrastructure project will lay the foundation for long-term commercial and industrial growth,” he added.

Xinhua