At six o'clock in the morning, Old Monbasa Road in southern Nairobi had already woken up. Heavy trucks crawl slowly against the bumpy road surface, dust is raised from the rear of the vehicle, and minibuses are poking their way through the gaps, honking one after another. The driver who has been running for over a decade holds the steering wheel, facing the direction towards the inland container yard. He is most afraid of two things: dust on sunny days and water accumulation on rainy days. With the onset of the rainy season, poorly drained roads often turn into ponds, causing traffic congestion for most of the day. The convoy waiting to pick up containers can drain several hundred meters.

This scene is about to be rewritten.

New projects on the old road

CRBC has won a 3.22 billion shilling contract in Kenya to upgrade the 7-kilometer section of the old Mombasa road between Nairobi's inland container yard and Siyoukemau. The contract is implemented by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority and awarded through competitive bidding.

The project includes road reconstruction, drainage system improvement, street lamp installation, relocation of public facilities, and traffic diversion, with the goal of improving road capacity, safety, and reliability. The contract stipulates a construction period of 18 months, plus a 12-month maintenance period. The construction plan is scheduled to start on September 1, 2026, and the overall contract period is until April 28, 2029. It should be noted that the above schedule is based on the contracted construction period and has not independently confirmed the current actual construction progress.

The bill of quantities also includes approximately 2 kilometers of temporary gravel access roads for vehicles to continue passing during the construction period. The contractor is required to remove obstacles, dismantle designated structures, and coordinate the relocation of existing public facilities that may affect road surface and drainage construction. This upgrade is aimed at an existing urban road, not a separate project to rebuild the entire road beneath the expressway.

Street lights and drainage are top priorities

Lighting is an important component of the contract. CRBC needs to install 259 dual arm LED street lights with a pole height of 10 meters, and another 20 single arm street lights with a pole height of 8 meters. Supporting facilities such as substations, distribution boxes, and power cables should be constructed. For a road that carries night shift freight and morning commuting all year round, this not only lights up the road surface, but also incorporates accident rates and traffic efficiency into the scope of renovation.

Improving drainage is also a key aspect, with a focus on addressing issues such as road damage, water accumulation, and traffic interruption during heavy rainfall caused by inadequate rainwater management.

Deeply cultivate the Nairobi road network

This section is an important component of the transportation network in southern Nairobi, connecting the inland container yard with Siyoukimau and surrounding residential, industrial, and commercial areas, carrying freight, commuting, and vehicle traffic to the yard logistics facilities. The inland container yard was originally a supporting project of the Mombasa Nairobi Railway, where goods can be cleared through customs, freeing up space for the Port of Mombasa and consolidating Kenya's position as a logistics hub in East Africa.keywords:Engineering infrastructure

CRBC is already a familiar face in Nairobi. The company previously constructed a 27.1-kilometer Nairobi Expressway from Mlodongo to Westlands, which was completed in 2022 at a reported cost of 86.8 billion shillings. It passes through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport corridor, reducing the travel time from the airport to the city from two hours to twenty minutes. In Kenya, it has also implemented standard gauge railways and road projects such as the Nairobi East Ring Road, South Ring Road, and North Ring Road, and participated in the development of the Nairobi Nakuru Maofengding Highway through government and social capital cooperation.

From the main arteries of the expressway to the capillaries of Old Monbasa Road, CRBC's participation in Nairobi's road infrastructure is further expanding. For drivers who bump on this road every day, the 7-kilometer change may just be the half hour of less traffic.Editor/Yang Meiling