An artist's impression of the junction where the Eastern bypass meets Mombasa road at City Cabanas restaurant, Nairobi.
By John Ngarachu
Roadworks across the city will soon create a motorist’s paradise in Nairobi. Already, Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway, Enterprise Road, among others, have been re-carpeted and traffic flow is smoother.
Other major roads and intersections, such as the Globe Cinema Roundabout and University Way, are under construction. But it is a new Thika Road and the bypasses — the Eastern and the Western — that will have the most impact on Nairobi’s jams.
The bypasses will feed inter-city traffic away from the Central Business District while a rebuilt Thika Road will shorten journey times and cut the endless hours spent in jams. But the modernisation of the city’s road network comes at a terrible cost for those who were so unwise as to build their dream homes and business premises on bypass land and road reserves.
Large scale demolition has started of buildings which are on the Northern bypass, the provision for which was made more than 30 years ago. Flats, churches, bungalows and part of a school bearing the Roads ministry’s white or yellow cross are to be pulled down.
In Kahawa West, the Nation on Thursday witnessed construction workers pulling down the same buildings they helped put up a few years ago. The demolition notices have long expired, but the sight of earthmovers on the opposite ridge prompted the owners to hire workers to pull down the buildings.
Kongo area in Kahawa West is now strewn with the remains of buildings and the workers hack away at what is left with pick axes, giant hammers and shovels. “We agree with some owners to sell what we can salvage to pay ourselves. Others pay us a daily rate. A lot of money has been lost here,” said a worker at one of the sites.
The degree of “luck” varies — those putting up buildings in other areas simply move the materials while their more unfortunate counterparts lose everything. There is hardly any resistance to the demolition order. The Northern bypass connects Limuru Road to Thika Road, starting at Ruiru through Kahawa West, Thome Estate, Runda, Closeburn Farm and to Ruaka shopping centre.
The road is linked to the Eastern bypass, which starts at Wellington Hospital and runs through Mwiki, joining Mombasa Road next to City Cabanas Restaurant. The Northern bypass is 39 km long while the Eastern bypass is 31 km. The total 70 km stretch is designed to ease congestion in the city centre.
-Daily Nation
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