Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has awarded a new Ksh17 billion highway project to a Chinese firm.

In a special ceremony hosted on Monday, April 19, KeNHA Director General Peter Mundinia signed a tender award to China Communication Construction Company.

The company received the Ksh17 billion tender for the construction of Lamu - Ijara - Garissa highway in a period of 36 months.

The company was directed to upgrade the highway, which is 196 kilometers long, to all-weather gravel standards.

The project is part of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project and consists of spur roads associated with the highway.

The highway is the first part of a Ksh25 billion road construction project that the state is expected to undertake in Lamu County stretching 250 kilometers.

The other sections which are yet to be tendered include a 15-kilometer part that is Hindi to Kiunga.

KeNHA Chairman Wangai Ndirangu, a week ago, revealed that the project's had already been budgeted for in the current financial year.

Once complete, the highway will form a permanent route for ferrying goods along the Northern Corridor all the way up to Southern Ethiopia.

The CS said that the delays were becoming more frequent, and gave an ultimatum for the road to be completed by the end of July 2021.