China-built road helps boost Kenya tourism

Kenya is an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa. Companies from China are helping to build vital new infrastructure in the country, which in turn is giving a boost to local economies and making more jobs available for local communities.

The C12 Highway in Kenya is the main route that tourists take when they visit the Masai Mara National Reserve. The 82-kilometer highway connects Narok to Sekenani, the main road to Masaai Mara.

Workers at the construction site for the C12 Highway in Kenya. [Photo: China Plus]

The term "washboard road" used to apply to the bumpy old road along this route. The poor condition of the road made it a rough ride for tourists visiting the park.

Liu Shousen is a project manager with the construction company China Wuyi. He said the old road posed a challenge both to cars and the people inside them.

"Before, cars bumped along the road. People bumped up and down like they were getting a massage. The cars couldn't handle it very well. Many cars were falling apart."

But in April 2017, things began to change, when Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto went to Masia Mara to unveil the C12 Highway being built by China Wuyi.

China Wuyi's project manager Liu said that 70 percent of the construction for the new road has been completed.

"We have repaired over 30 kilometers of it now. When it's completed, it will take less than an hour to get from Narok to Masaai Mara. It used to take us three hours before this new road."

The C12 Highway runs through the country's Maasai region. The construction project required a large number of people, and 95 percent of the people hired by China Wuyi are from the local community, and more than half of them are Maasai.

46-year-old Julias Sayalel is the company's security manager and the leader of a nearby Massai village. His home is only 8 kilometers from the project site. His job involves leading a team of more than 30 security guards who are tasked with protecting the construction site. All the members of his team come from his village.

"The road is very, very nice. Because before we got this tarmac road, .The people they can travel about 40, maybe 40 mins to the another town.Many people from the community have coming here and looking for the work.Because some people who are poor in the villages.You know the droughts are coming. because they can help, because they can get a job, they can get money to buy food."

Kenya is home to the largest economy in East Africa. It's also a major tourist destination on the continent, and most of the tourists who come here want to visit Masai Mara.

After work on the C12 Highway has been completed, it's expected to give a boost to the country's tourism industry, which will bring with it more income and more jobs for local businesses.