This archive report was first published on 19 August 2019.
On August 19, 2019, the Treasury stepped in to pay Sh13 billion for the upgrade of the 26km James Gichuru-Rironi Road, a key artery of the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, after the World Bank pulled out of the project.
The multilateral lender cancelled its share of the funding for the Sh16.3 billion upgrade of the project due to delays.
According to the Kenya National Highway Authority (KenHa), the World Bank is no longer part of the road's expansion. Construction work is progressing slowly due to the need for additional billions to compensate investors ceding land for the works.
KenHa director-general Peter Mundinia explained that the World Bank's cancellation was due to the project's timeline, which had elapsed in December 2019.
"Every programme that World Bank funds through the National Urban Transport and Improvement project has a timeline, and in this case, the timeline for funding of this road was to end in December 2019," Mundinia said.
"It is the reason why they (World Bank) could not fund the road as timeline had elapsed. Treasury therefore thought it wise to terminate the agreement and fund the road through locally generated resources," he added.
The project is part of the Sh59 billion KenHa plan to improve the thoroughfare from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to ease traffic congestion in Nairobi.
