By Ben  Kinyanjui

Developers in the real estate are now eying Thika Town and its surrounding to cash on the super highway that will reduce travel time to Nairobi by over 50 per cent.The superhighway has opened Thika for real estate development

The Kenya National Highway Authority has confirmed that the new eight-lane superhighway from Thika to Nairobi will be completed along its entire length by March next year.

Sources say Thika’s first residential development by Bahati Ridge is also due to open in July.

The company will complete its first phase of 72 homes, being 55 townhouses, nine villas and eight bungalows, in July ne3xt year.

“Thika residents working in the capital will perhaps take a lot shorter to hit Museum Hill than it will take those from Karen, Lang'ata, Mlolongo, Embakasi and Burururu,” said Ms Clara Ouko and Communication Officer at the Kenya National Highway Authority.

A commuter Dr Alphonce Omondo who has been travelling daily from Thika to work in Nairobi reports that travelling times have already fallen sharply.

“The traffic jam has already eased. I had been leaving my house at 5am and even at times arrive late, but I now leave at 5.45 am, yet the highway is not yet done,” said Dr Omondo, a medic working in the city.

Currently, 80 per cent of Lot 1, which starts at Kenyatta Avenue and runs to Muthaiga, has been completed by China Wu Yi Company.

Sinohydro Corporation’s Lot 2, which starts at Muthaiga with an 8-lane dual carriageway to Kenyatta University, is 92 per cent complete.

Lot 3 running from Kenyatta University to Thika, and being built by Shengli Engineering Construction Company, has 68 per cent of the construction work completed.

The highways is perhaps one of the East Africa’s busiest highway, carrying over 70,000 vehicles a day, with flyovers, under-passes, interchanges, pedestrian grade separators, cross drainage systems and modern street lighting.

The completion of the superhighway will save Nairobi drivers an estimated Sh50 million a day in fuel consumption, mechanical damage, stress and pollution and the economy more than Sh2 billion worth of man-hours annually.

“Bahati Ridge homes and the newly accessible Thika now opens an opportunity for quality lifestyle at only half the initial investment required to access similar homes and lifestyle in the city’s existing suburbs,” said Mr Gilbert Kibe, Bahati Ridge Managing Director.

“It is now certain to emerge as a vibrant dormitory town for the city, with developments such as Bahati Ridge opening up the opportunity for clean air, space, peace and easy access to top-quality schools, hospitals, shopping malls and leisure facilities.”

Bahati Ridge is building cottages, villas, townhouses and bungalows in a stunning rural setting three kilometers from Blue Post Hotel, on Gatanga Road, off the new Nairobi-Thika Superhighway.