Kindiki launches works on Sh7.5 billion Nithi bridge in Tharaka Nithi
The 880-metre bridge will replace a 1985 crossing on the Nairobi-Embu-Meru highway that has long been an accident black spot.
Based on reporting by Citizen Digital, Business Daily and The Standard.
People at the new Nithi bridge construction site in Tharaka Nithi County. Photo: StarNews
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki on Thursday launched construction of a new Sh7.5 billion bridge over the Nithi River in Maara, Tharaka Nithi County, on the Nairobi-Embu-Meru highway.
The bridge will be 880 metres long and about 100 metres high, with 2.7 kilometres of new approach roads linking Marima and Mitheru trading centres, Citizen Digital reported. Kindiki said the money has been secured and ring-fenced. Works are due to take 24 months, and he said the government will try to finish sooner without lowering engineering and safety standards.
The current bridge was built in 1985 and is one of the country's best-known accident black spots, with fatal crashes involving buses, trucks and private cars over four decades.
Kindiki acknowledged the project had been delayed since the government promised a new bridge in 2022, citing the complex engineering design and the high cost. Business Daily has reported that the contract went to China Wu Yi Company Limited, and the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) said in February that the contract period was about 24 months.
