CS Kipchumba Murkomen meets World Bank as Kenya eyes more road deals

Transport and Infrastructure CS Kipchumba Murkomen. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen yesterday met with representatives of the World Bank as Kenya pursues partnerships to launch more transport infrastructure projects.

Murkomen met World Bank's Regional Director for Infrastructure for Eastern and Southern Africa Wendy Hughes and Practice Manager for Transport Almud Weitz. Also in the meeting was South Sudan's Ministry of Roads and Bridges led by James Alam.

Roads development has become an early area of focus for the Kenya Kwanza administration as President Ruto seeks to re-energise ongoing partnerships and complete existing projects.

The meeting discussed the ongoing construction of the highway linking Kenya to South Sudan, and the Isiolo-Mandera highway linking Kenya to Ethiopia and Somalia.

Murkomen said the two projects were key to the economic transformation of frontier regions of the country such as northeastern and northwestern Kenya.

"We also discussed ways of improving urban mobility by offering mass rapid transit options and facilities for non-motorised traffic in Nairobi and other major towns across Kenya to enable faster, cheaper, efficient and safe travel," the CS said after the meeting.

The parties also explored ways of supporting development of infrastructure for rural mobility to ensure effective and reliable last-mile connectivity to the national highway network, a dispatch from the meeting said.

"Areas of cooperation in the provision of infrastructure that is resilient to the adverse impacts of climate change and the seamless integration of ICT in the development of road infrastructure were also canvassed," the release said.

Murkomen said Kenya had longstanding partnership with World Bank in the roads and transport sectors.