The State has revived a project to dual Kiambu Road less than four months after pulling the plug on a tender to upgrade the section through Chinese contractors.
The Cabinet has announced the revival of the project but has not indicated whether the tender would remain restricted to Chinese contractors.
The choice of Chinese contractors’ rests on the project’s financial backing by the Chinese government through the China Exim Bank.
The project sits in the government’s broader action plan to modernise the Nairobi metropolitan transport network.
‘The Cabinet also gave the greenlight to the dualling of the 23.5km Muthaiga-Kiambu-Ndumberi road to ease congestion and improve mobility between Nairobi and Kiambu counties,’ read a Cabinet dispatch on Tuesday.
‘The project will expand the existing two-lane highway into a dual carriageway, complete with bypasses, loops and access roads to increase capacity and reduce travel times.’ The Kenya National Highways Authority (KenHA) abruptly cancelled the international tender for the upgrading of the road known as B32 in late July, before the tender’s scheduled closing date of August 22, 2025.
The road agency failed to issue an explanation to the cancellation of the procurement process even after queries sent to it by the Business Daily.
The cancellation came at a time when the agency was grappling with leadership changes following the sudden exit of the then Director-General Kungu Ndung’u before the end of his term.
The project involves the expansion of the heavily used corridor linking Pangani in Nairobi to Ndumberi in Kiambu County via Muthaiga and Kiambu town.
Plans for the upgrade included a dual carriageway, road widening, improved drainage and pedestrian walkways.
Once completed, the road is expected to significantly cut travel times and stimulate economic growth between the capital and Kiambu.
Tender cancellations are not uncommon for large infrastructure projects and can arise from a variety of factors including funding uncertainties, procurement disputes, design changes, or shifts in policy direction.
The government of Kenya has commitment from China through the China Export Import (Exim) Bank to finance the cost of the capacity enhancement of the road.