KENYA: President William Ruto has officially launched construction of the Riruta – Ngong commuter rail line, which is being built to relieve road congestion and lower transport costs in Nairobi.
The metre-gauge line is being built by China Road & Bridge Corp under a contract awarded by Kenya Railways Corp.
It will connect with the existing line in the residential suburb of Riruta, and run 12·5 km through Karen and Bulbul to reach Ngong to the southwest of Nairobi.
Ruto said the line would support the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda by facilitating movement, creating jobs and helping to lower the cost of living by cutting transport costs by 50%.
‘This new railway will have the capacity of transporting 10 000 people every day, thereby reducing traffic congestion on our roads’, Ruto said at the ceremony on December 15.
Completion is planned within 12 months.
Longer term plans as part of the Nairobi Masterplan would see the line extended to Kiserian and then back to Nairobi via Ongata Rongai.
