NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 28 \u2014 President William Ruto says 15,000 young Kenyans will benefit from new employment opportunities through the construction of the Nairobi\u2013Nakuru\u2013Mau Summit and Nairobi\u2013Maai Mahiu\u2013Naivasha highways, describing the venture as a national turning point in infrastructure and economic development.<\/p>\n
Speaking during the official project launch, the President said the highways \u2014 worth Sh170 billion \u2014 will not only improve transport efficiency but will also serve as a workforce empowerment engine by engaging thousands of youth, technicians, engineers, and small enterprises during implementation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project will create 15,000 jobs. It will build not just roads, but careers, skills and livelihoods \u2014 with Kenyan workers taking the lead,\u201d Ruto said.<\/p>\n
He added that the government structured the Public\u2013Private Partnership (PPP) model to prioritise local contractors, maximise skills transfer, increase SME involvement and boost domestic supply capacity.<\/p>\n
President Ruto said the project signals a departure from decades of constrained development, where Kenya\u2019s infrastructure depended heavily on borrowing or slow incremental budget spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor too long we were stuck between borrowing, overtaxing or doing nothing,\u201d he said.
\u201cThis project proves we can build smarter \u2014 and still deliver transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since independence, Kenya has built 22,000 kilometres of tarmacked roads. Ruto compared this to Japan\u2019s one million kilometres constructed over a similar period, framing the new highway initiative as a correction of historical underinvestment.<\/p>\n
The 233-kilometre corridor, one of East Africa\u2019s busiest transport routes, links Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the DRC.<\/p>\n
Once completed, it is expected to ease cargo movement, reduce travel time and lower road accident rates.<\/p>\n
Key features include dual carriageway upgrade, intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), pedestrian bridges and truck lay-bys, modern drainage and road lighting and strengthened Maai Mahiu\u2013Naivasha section for heavy cargo flow.<\/p>\n
The highway will also boost logistics around the Naivasha Inland Depot and support Kenya\u2019s position as a regional transit hub.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/strong>Traffic has cost us lives, business time and billions. Today we say: no more,\u201d<\/strong> Ruto declared. \u201cThis road will cut travel time, save lives and unlock trade across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n The President said the highways reflect a long-term shift in economic strategy \u2014 from state-driven infrastructure financing to blended investment with the private sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThese efforts will boost competitiveness, lower business costs and connect Kenya more efficiently to global markets.\u201d<\/p>\n Construction activities are expected to begin immediately.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 28 \u2014 President William Ruto says 15,000 young Kenyans will benefit from new employment opportunities through the construction of the Nairobi\u2013Nakuru\u2013Mau Summit and Nairobi\u2013Maai Mahiu\u2013Naivasha highways, describing the venture as a national turning point in infrastructure and economic development. Speaking during the official project launch, the President said the highways \u2014 worth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}