Questions as Chinese firm that built expressway cashes in on road repairs

The government last week said it had handed China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) another contract for the enhancement of the roads along the Nairobi Expressway, stretching from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to James Gichuru Road in Westlands.

The move came a week after President William Ruto announced plans to rebuild the roads.

The roads, consisting of Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway and Waiyaki Way, which, while suffering from wear and tear and years of neglect, took a major hit during the construction of the expressway

This severely damaged the roads while altering segments of the road. They were never rehabilitated after the expressway was completed.

The new contract is set to raise queries on the selection of the firm and the cost, but also previous government statements that said CRBC was expected to refurbish the road as part of building the expressway.

The government had at the time of developing the Nairobi Expressway, said CRBC was obliged to repair sections of the lower deck roads damaged during construction.

The roads remain in bad shape, leaving motorists who choose not to pay tolls on the expressway grappling with numerous challenges.

The pay-to-use 27-kilometre expressway has now become a model Public Private Partnership project that the government seeks to replicate across sectors.

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) on Friday announced that during a site visit, it had formally handed over the road to CRBC for what it said was beautification and landscaping.

This, it said, followed the President’s directive on Jamhuri Day at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi on December 12.

KeNHA's statement, posted on its social media handles, is, however, not clear on what CRBC is supposed to deliver. In one instance, it termed its ‘beatification and landscaping’ and in another noting it aimed to undertake an ‘infrastructure upgrade’.

“The initiative seeks to enhance the beautification and landscaping of the James Gichuru Road junction to JKIA (A8/B10) Highway, a critical national and regional transport Corridor,” said KeNHA.

“Upon completion, the project is expected to significantly improve the area’s aesthetic appeal, promote environmental sustainability, and upgrade infrastructure and safety standards within the region.”

The road running parallel to the expressway is among the roads in and around Nairobi that President Ruto said are set for major roadworks.

The president said the construction of the road would commence shortly, adding that the completion and operationalisation of the expressway paved the way for the construction of the lower deck road, which he said experienced major challenges.

“The lower deck road (Mombasa Road) has many challenges and because of this, starting this December, we will start rebuilding the road from JKIA to ABC Junction with James Gichuru Road) and also undertake beautification so that Nairobi can look like a proper capital for our country, Kenya,” said the President.

The three roads running along the expressway are a critical artery for the city and carry traffic from the larger Nairobi Metropolitan Counties of Kajiado, Machakos and Kiambu but also goods and people.

The roads are also part of the Northern Transport Corridor, connecting Kenya’s coast to the rest of the country, but also to the neighbouring countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo and South Sudan.

It is part of the road transport network that the landlocked countries use to import and export products through the Indian Ocean. 

During the construction of the expressway, the road suffered severe damage. Entire lanes disappeared while surfaces on some sections were badly damaged, and others were left with deep excavations unattended. 

Non-motorised segments of the road also suffered, with some sections of the road left without proper pavements or cyclist lanes as large pillars took up space, leaving pedestrians jostling with cars on the main road.

Pedestrians wishing to cross to the other side of the road have to go for lengthy stretches before they can find footbridges or other safe pedestrian crossing points.

While the road was also expected to have other amenities, including a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane, it appears unlikely this will come to pass owing to lack of space.

The government had, at the onset of the expressway project, said CRBC was obliged to restore the road on completion of the expressway.

The Roads Ministry at the time had said that the restoration of the road running parallel to the expressway would be done under one budget (with the expressway), and the contractor would leave the road better than they found it.

Civil society organisations would, however, flag this as a probable false promise that was aimed at getting Kenyans to buy into the project.

In past interviews, officials at Natural Justice told Financial Standard that the documents that CRBC lodged with the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) before securing approvals to proceed with the project do not have a road map for the rehabilitation of the old roads.

“The challenges speak to the need for adequate ESIA study reports, which adequately identify potential impacts and provide adequate mitigation measures. Ideally, the ESIA should have contained a detailed rehabilitation plan that addressed issues that are now coming up,” said Natural Justice at the time

It noted that one of the options that Kenyans had was Nema issuing restoration orders once CRBC was done with the expressway project, which, however, did not happen.

In 2022, the government appeared to admit to having taken Kenyans for a ride. During the commissioning of the expressway in May 2022, the Ministry of Roads said it had handed CRBC a Sh9 billion contract to undertake repairs on the lower deck road.

Kenyans reacted angrily at the announcement, questioning why the exchequer was responsible for the repair of the road that was damaged during the construction of a for-profit project.

The ministry had then defended the contractor, noting that it would be required to make repairs of the areas that it damaged when putting up the expressway, while the Sh9 billion would be used for enhancements beyond what CRBC would be required to do.

The enhancements, the Ministry said, would include non-motorised lanes, a bus rapid transit (BRT) line and drainage. The repair works appear to have, however, never gotten off the ground, while KeNHA and the Ministry remained mum on the fate of the Sh9 billion.

KeNHA would later give different companies contracts to undertake repairs, building and pedestrian lanes and install footbridges.

The works have, however, taken longer than expected, with some of these yet to be completed or abandoned. A walk across the patched areas also shows poor workmanship.

Motorists Association of Kenya Chairman Peter Murima, in a past interview, decried the state that the old roads were left in, but also the promises that KeNHA had made that the old roads would be rehabilitated before the commissioning of the expressway.

“The (Mombasa) road itself used to be okay… it could have done with some improvements, but what we now have is a road where certain segments were excised to give way to the concrete pillars,” said Murima.