This archive report was first published on 17 September 2019.
On September 17, 2019, a team of religious leaders in Makueni County voiced their opposition to the proposed Sh300 billion Mombasa-Nairobi expressway.
The 525-kilometre road, which will feature 22 interchanges, is expected to run largely parallel to the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
According to the religious leaders, an expressway will deprive areas bordering the proposed road of opportunities for growth, including the development of roadside towns and businesses.
“An expressway will condemn the regions where the road passes into underdevelopment,” Reverend Jackson Muema of Kambu Baptist church stated on behalf of the group.
The clerics, drawn from various faiths, including the National Council of Churches of Kenya, Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, Muslim community, Hindus, and Seventh Day Adventists, want the government to expand the current Mombasa-Nairobi highway into a dual carriage instead.
This, they believe, will open up business opportunities along the roadside.
The group's concerns come as the standard gauge railway, which cuts across the county, has contributed to dwindling economic fortunes in the region.
Traders in Mtito Andei Town have decried reduced business prospects due to the new railway line.
The expressway is expected to rival the standard gauge railway line on speed, with American company Bechtel having won the contract for the ambitious project in a government-to-government deal.
