President William Ruto Launches Phase 1 of Cess-Nghonji to Lake Jipe Road Upgrade in Taita Taveta County

His Excellency President William Ruto, PhD, has launched the construction works for phase 1 for the upgrading to Bitumen standards of the Cess(Nghonji)- Releke-Mata Centre- orkungu Primary School  to Lake Jipe road in Taita Taveta County.
The 25.8 km will be implanted in two phases with the first phase starting at Cess(junction A6), heading south through Rekeke, and ends at Mata centre to Orkungu Primary School, while second phase starts at Orkungu Primary to Lake Jipe.
The road project will be implemented under the supervision of the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) and will be funded by the government at a cost of Ksh.2.033 billion.
The road project was awarded to M/S Hens Highway Engineering Group Company, who is expected to complete the project within 30 months. 
The road project will be maintained for a period of 36 months after completion. 
Implementation of this road project will support the accessibility of the rich agricultural area and boost tourism since tourists can use it as a circuit road to access the Tsavo West National Park from Kwale County, and Lake Jipe which is part of the tourist attraction in the area.
The road project will serve quite a number of markets and shopping centres, primary and secondary schools, administration offices, as well as several health centres and churches.
The road serves private farms, some of which are reserved for wildlife conservation and it also supports fishing from Lake Jipe by facilitating the movement of the fish produce.
Present was the CS Roads and Transport Davis Chirchir, Principal Secretary for Roads Eng Joseph Mbugua and local leaders