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Chinese company bags Sh7.5bn contract to repair the ‘killer’ Nithi Bridge
Nithi Bridge, a notorious blackspot on the Meru–Embu–Makutano highway in Tharaka Nithi County, February 20, 2024. A Chinese firm has won a Sh7.5 billion contract to realign the bridge, improving safety along the Kenol–Marua highway.
Photo credit: Alex Njeru | Nation Media Group
A Chinese firm has been awarded a Sh7.5 billion contract to realign the accident-prone Nithi Bridge, marking a major milestone for President William Ruto’s administration, which has repeatedly promised residents that work on the project would begin.
China Wu Yi Company Limited is expected to start work on the project, whose cost gobbles up half of the 84-kilometre Kenol-Marua dual carriageway, according to disclosures by the Kenya National Highways Authority.
Construction is supposed to have started on April 21, following the signing of the deal some two weeks earlier. China Wu Yi is one of the leading Chinese firms in Kenya, having been involved in major projects, including the Thika Superhighway.
Disclosures published by the procurement regulatory authority show that the company—an overseas construction arm of Fujian Construction Engineering Group—won the contract competitively and is expected to build the bridge over three years, to August 7, 2029.
The project entails realignment of the road along a 2.7-kilometre stretch from Marima to Mitheru shopping centres, with the bridge itself spanning 880 metres.
KeNHA recently released designs of the new Nithi Bridge, billed as one of the most spectacular and expensive road crossings in the country.
With a steep descent and several sharp corners, the three-kilometre stretch of the bridge is a death trap, earning it the infamous label of a blackspot.
As you approach the bridge from both sides, there are prominent road signs warning motorists of the danger ahead. Rumble strips were also installed to separate the lanes, but these measures have failed to stem the carnage.
The planned realignment of Nithi Bridge goes beyond routine repairs, involving a redesign of the steep and curved approach roads that have made the section one of Kenya’s deadliest accident spots, with dozens of crashes and over 100 lives lost in recent years.
Soon after his election, President William Ruto designated the infamous Nithi Bridge as one of his top policy priorities, repeatedly promising the people of Tharaka Nithi that he would soon embark on the reconstruction of the notoriously risky stretch.
Dual carriageway
“[On] the Nithi Bridge issue... we agreed with you... that this bridge will stop killing the people of Tharaka Nithi and here in Meru. We are already planning to prepare this year's budget. The money to replace the bridge and even the road should not be as problematic as that...” Ruto told congregants at a church in Tharaka Nithi in 2023.
One year to the next general election, President Ruto appears keen to deliver on his promise to realign the killer bridge.
Addressing residents of Meru recently, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said the government was committed to completing the project on time.
“We now have the funds and the public has already been engaged for their input. Soon, I will bring the contractor to start construction,” the DP said in Tigania East on February 25, 2026.
According to the KeNHA project brief, the bridge will have an eight-metre dual carriageway, two-metre shoulders or walkways on either side, and a maximum gradient of eight percent to enhance safety.
The structure, literally flying over the Nithi River, will be supported by massive pillars, some of them rising as high as 100 metres from the deepest point of the Nithi Valley.
Engineers explained that since the bridge takes a different route from the current road, there will be minimal traffic disruption during construction.
