The highway reconstruction linking the Kenyan capital of Nairobi and Tanzania's northern city of Arusha is set to start in May next year, according to a schedule of the East African Community (EAC) available on Saturday.

With the financing from the African Development Bank, the road between Kenya's Athi River and border town of Namanga will be rehabilitated while that between Namanga and Arusha will be upgraded, according to the schedule.

The highway covers 132 km inside Kenya and 105 km in Tanzania.

The feasibility study of the Athi River-Arusha highway has completed also with the funding of the African Development Bank.

An estimated 200 million U.S. dollars will be spent on the reconstruction of the highway, which upon completion will double or even triple the transport along the road.

The African Development Bank has just approved a grant of 13.6 million U.S. dollars to finance transport and trade in East Africa.

The region of East Africa has just been enlarged as the EAC admitted on Nov. 30 Burundi and Rwanda as its new members. The five-nation EAC now covers an area of 1,817,945 square km and boasts of a combined population of 116.99 million people.

Source: Xinhua