This archive report was first published on 23 October 2019.
Published on October 23, 2019, the construction of Thika Road under former President Mwai Kibaki's government was a massive undertaking that cost Sh32 billion.
Adjusted for inflation, this translates to approximately Sh600 million per kilometre, a staggering amount that has been eclipsed by the Jubilee administration's grandiose road projects.
Among these is the 11-kilometre Dongo Kundu bypass in Mombasa, which cost a whopping Sh11 billion, or about Sh1 billion per kilometre.
The second and third phases of the Dongo Kundu project, spanning 15.8 kilometres, will cost Sh30 billion, with each kilometre costing close to Sh2 billion.
A key contributor to the high cost is the construction of two sea bridges with a length of 2.1km.
The 16.5-kilometre Western Bypass, which starts at Gitaru and ends in Ruaka, cost Sh17.3 billion, indicating each kilometre cost more than Sh1 billion.
Interestingly, the Mbagathi road in Nairobi, which was an experimental project to test the use of concrete technology, cost Sh90 million per kilometre in 2007, a price deemed exorbitant by Members of Parliament at the time.
However, the road has turned out to be the most durable in the city.
The Northern and Eastern bypasses, earmarked for dualling, will cost Sh40 billion, with the dualling itself costing Sh775 million per kilometre.
While this is below the Sh1 billion per kilometre mark, the projects are unique in that they are relatively new, with much of the road, including the reserves, being intact.
The expressway between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and James Gichuru Road in Westlands will cost Sh62 billion, while the Mombasa-Nairobi Expressway, controversially awarded to American firm Bechtel, will cost more than Sh300 billion.
For comparison, a highway being constructed in Ethiopia, the 200-kilometre Modjo-Hawassa Expressway, will cost Sh350 million per kilometre.
According to the World Bank, the average price per kilometre of road in the Democratic Republic of Congo is Sh34 million, while in Ethiopia it is Sh83 million.
