The National Environment Tribunal has received an appeal from the Conservation Alliance of Kenya (CAK), which aims to stop the Ndunyu Njeru-Ihithe highway from being built because it would cross the Aberdares ecosystem.
CAK requests that the tribunal order the Kenyan government to reconsider building a road via a different route instead of moving forward with the proposed highway.
The alliance requested that the National Environment Management Authority's (NEMA) license approving the Ksh.4.4 billion road construction be revoked, citing the severe environmental harm the planned highway will inflict.
"We are making a call to the government to cancel the licence that approved the construction of the road...We have drawn to the attention of the government the legitimate and severe environmental impacts of the proposed road," Green Belt Movement Board Chair Nyaguthii Chege said.
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Connecting Nyandarua and Nyeri counties is the contentious Ihithe-Ndunyu Njeru road.
In January, NEMA sent a letter to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) requesting approval for the road, whose construction had been halted by a court after conservationists filed a lawsuit in 2009.
NEMA Director General Mamo Boru approved the construction with the condition that the road's width be reviewed from 40 to 25 meters, particularly in areas that cross the Aberdares forest reserve and national park.
Fifty-two kilometers make up the Ihithe-Ndunyu Njeru main section of the road; 12 kilometers pass through Njengu, Treetops gate, and Amboni; 3.6 kilometers pass through Ihithe-Kiamutiga-Mukarara; 2 kilometers pass through the ark gate access road; and 21 kilometers pass through Munyaka-Koinange-Heni Mwedandu Njoma-Weru.
At first, the project was denied approval by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and NEMA, citing concerns about possible disruption to the Aberdare ecosystem.
Rhino Ark and other environmentalists who sued against the planned road construction referred to it as an environmental crisis.
According to the complainants, most of Nairobi County's water supply comes from the Sasumua and Ndakaini dams, whose catchment areas would be hampered by the road's construction.
Additionally, the Aberdares forest is home to nearly 4,000 elephants. The disturbance it causes will probably exacerbate the human-wildlife conflict in some areas of Nyandarua.
In addition to providing water for the rivers Athi and Ewaso Nyiro, the moorlands stop water from flowing downstream and causing floods.
