By Siago Cece
Stakeholders say this has saved time for
the tourists while attracting more visitors to the South Coast, who have been
preferring areas in Mombasa and Malindi due to ease of accessibility.
Kwale has most tourist attractions iat the
Coast, including the magnificent Wasini Island, Funzi Island, Shimoni, Diani
Beach, Beach Hotels, and Shimba Hills National Reserve among others.
Those visiting Kwale in the past have been
forced to rely on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway, going through Kibarani, Likoni
ferry to Diani, where they experience frequent traffic jams which cause delays.
However, travelers now have the option of
branching off from the Mombasa-Nairobi highway at Samburu to the
Samburu-Kinango road before connecting to the Kinango-Kwale highway.
Currently, the 53km Kinango-Samburu road is
complete, while the 23km Kinango-Kwale highway is yet to be tarmacked.
"This is already a game-changer to us,
especially in the travel industry. The tourists, who mostly like to go on
Safari to Tsavo National Park, do not have to go through the Likoni ferry and
through Kibarani where there have been endless road constructions," said
Lofty Safaris Director Monica Solanki.
She added that tour vans have been using
the road for a while now, even though a section between Kwale and Kinango is
not yet tarmacked.
"The only problem comes during the rainy
season when there is a lot of mud on the untarmacked road. But it is always
okay to use it on all the other days. It saves our drivers' time. The good
thing is that [most] part of the road from Kinango has been tarmacked,"
she said.
Tourists, especially foreigners staying in
the Coast region for their holiday, usually visit national parks such as the
Tsavo, Amboseli, Maasai Mara, and Nairobi.
Ms. Solanki said many of them had
complained before of the time wasted in traffic jams and in Likoni awaiting a
ferry to cross the Indian Ocean.
"That is why some would later prefer
to stay in North Coast so that it is easy for them. The tourists do not usually
have a lot of time and it is tiring; they want to visit all the places within
the short period they are in the country and wasting hours on the road due to
traffic was a disadvantage," she said.
Ms. Solanki said with the Covid-19
pandemic, most domestic tourists would prefer driving to the Coast instead of
using air travel or public means, hence the alternative road for those who are
visiting Diani would be a great gain.
According to Baobab Beach Resort Manager
Sylvestor Mbandi, it will now take a visitor to the South Coast about an hour
from Samburu, a distance that takes about three hours when one goes through
Mombasa through the Likoni crossing channel to Diani.
He, however, urged the Kenya National
Highways Authority (Kenha) to hasten the completion of the remaining section of
the road.
"The drive from Kinango to Kwale is a
short distance but extremely rough. If Kenha can complete this section faster,
it will truly be a game-changer to our businesses," he stated.
Contacted, Kenha Coast Deputy Director
Howard Mmayi said the contractor has already been informed and will soon be on
site.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, during his tour
of Kwale last October, asked the highway authority to hasten the completion of
the Kwale-Kinango highway.
"We could not start immediately
because of the procurement processes. But now that we already have a contractor
and consultant, once the works begin, they will be able to finish as soon as possible,"
he said.
Meanwhile, travelers still have the option
of using the Kinango-Samburu Road and drive through the murram road to get to
Kwale before connecting to the Lunga Lunga highway at Kombani.
For years, business people, high-profile
visitors, and tourists visiting the Coast have had to endure congestion on the
highway, especially at Kibarani where trucks from the Mombas port cause traffic
jams.
The current construction of the Makupa
Causeway and Makupa bridge has also been a hindrance to many who are either
getting into or leaving Mombasa. Sometimes, tourists have missed their flights
due to traffic snarl-ups stretching for two kilometres.
Ms Solanki said the road accessibility in
Kwale is going to open the area for trade and investment opportunities such as
agribusiness.
"Farming takes place in this area but
it was very difficult for the fresh food to be transported to other markets due
to the bad roads. This infrastructure has improved accessibility and we expect
this side of the country to grow economically," she said.
The road will also ease overreliance on the Likoni ferry that used to provide the only key access to the South Coast. The Nation (Nairobi)