Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and the British High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Marriot on Tuesday officiated the ground-breaking ceremony of the 3.6million dollars Nyerere - Mbaraki road.

The road which is now 33 percent complete, is expected to unclog the Mbaraki area adjacent to the Likoni Ferry on the island side of Mombasa which suffer frequent traffic snarl ups occasioned by cargo trucks loading and offloading cargo at the port.

The project entails tarmacking 1,2 kilometers of road, constructing a parking bay for trucks waiting to collect cargo, cycling and foot paths and a proper storm water drainage system.

The road will also entail a solar lighting system to improve security that is expected to encourage a 24-hour economy system

The UK government has pumped in 2.3 million dollars in the project through Trademark East Africa with the Danish government through its development co-operation agency (Danida) injecting about a million dollars and the county government of Mombasa pumping in half a million dollars into it.

Speaking during the event, Joho described the project as a game changer adding that it will greatly impact the economy of Mombasa.

“The construction of both Nyerere - Mbaraki and Kipevu road is a game changer and will have a huge socio-economic multiplier effect. Given the rapid expansion of both the Mombasa port and the support infrastructure, it is therefore absolutely crucial that we equally enhance efficiency of our city and its services,” said Joho.

He added that the construction of support infrastructure supporting port services will not only lead to a 24-hour economy system, but will also create employment opportunities for the people of Mombasa.

In January last year, the county government of Mombasa and the UK government signed a 2.7-million-dollar financing deal for the construction of the road.

The amount was to cover design, building and supervision consultancy for the project.

Addressing the event, the UK High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Marriot sated that road which is expected to be completed by February next year, will transform port operations, rejuvenating the economy and will also create employment opportunities.

“This road is transformational, it may not look much but the fact that it will last for 50 years and will be part of a key program to get containers on ship on time reducing number of days spent by truck drivers,” she said.

Drivers used to spend about 12 days before getting their containers from the ship to the roads but the new road is expected to reduce it to about three and a half day with the drivers expected to spend at most 30 mins getting through the area down from six hours.

The project was hailed as a “green road project” by transport experts due to the significant reduction of the carbon footprint anticipated.

Byron Ongere, the general manager of Kencon CFS which handles motor vehicle cargo stated that the road was critical to them because during transfer of vehicles from the port to a CFS requires efficiency, safety and security.

“The road will ensure that the transfers from port are actually swift and the damage to the vehicles is minimized and tat the issue of flooding that had affected us in the past will be forgotten with the new drainage system put in place,” said Ongere.

He added that the turn-around time caused by the traffic jams caused them to take longer time to transport vehicles from the port to their CFS but this would soon be a thing of the past.

The delegation also toured the 1.2 kilometers six-lane concreate Kipevu road constructed at a tune of 2billion shillings to facilitate easy movement of cargo.

The road which replaced the old four-lane road, was part of the improvement and expansion program at the port of Mombasa.

It is located in near Chaani and extends from Changamwe roundabout all the way to KPA gate 18 with an additional 200 meters inside the port area.