New East African highway will boost trade and transport

Plans are in hand in East Africa for a new 1,600km highway that will boost trade and transport in the region. The new road will run from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The highway will be of particular importance to landlocked Rwanda as it will provide an important new route for trade and transport. The Transport ministries of Kenya and Rwanda will work together on the project, which will also involve the transport ministry in Uganda. The six lane highway will feature sophisticated traffic control technology including speed cameras and weigh-in-motion systems. The route of the highway has yet to be determined but it seems likely that existing stretches of road will be widened and improved along certain stretches so as to meet the construction schedule. The highway should be ready for traffic within 10 years and will lower congestion along existing routes, while meeting anticipated capacity demands as the tonnage of cargo being transported through the port of Mombasa is expected to nearly double to some 44 million tonnes/year in the coming decade. Meanwhile the Kenyan Government is tendering feasibility studies for planned highways that will link capital Nairobi with Mombasa, Nakuru and Thika. The sections connecting Mombasa with Nairobi and then linking to Nakuru will form part of the highway that will run to the border with Uganda and through Kampala to Rwanda. The overall cost of this key highway project has yet to be determined, as has the funding model although once the feasibility studies for the Mombasa to Nairobi and Nairobi to Nakuru highways have been completed, estimates for the complete highway may be estimated at least in part.