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Viral photo shows highway in Singapore, not in Nyahururu town in Kenya

IN SHORT: A reverse image search reveals that the photo of a highway was snapped in Singapore, not Kenya’s Laikipia county.

A photo of a double-decker highway – one road elevated, another running beneath it – with high-rise buildings next to it is circulating on Facebook. It’s being posted with the claim that it shows an expressway in Kenya.

“Expressway from Nyahururu town to Kinamba,” a typical caption reads. “Hizo heights unaona hapo ni za Ndururumo High School! This road was built at a whooping cost of 59Billion!” The Kiswahili roughly translates as: “The multistoried buildings you see in the photo belong to Ndururumo High School.”

Nyahururu is a town in Kenya’s Laikipia county, about 50 kilometres south of the town of Kinamba. It is home to Ndururumo High, a state boarding school.

The photo and its description has been posted on Facebook pages and groups with thousands of followers and members.

But does it really show a highway and school buildings in Kenya? We checked.

KenyaHighway_False

Section of highway in Singapore

July 2022 saw the launch of the Nairobi Expressway, a 27-kilometre highway running from the west of Nairobi, the capital, through the city centre to its southeastern side.

Local media reported it cost KSh88 billion. But no similar project exists in Kenya. 

Using a reverse image search, we found the photo on several photography websites. They all describe it as showing a highway in Singapore, a country in southeast Asia.

The photo doesn’t show an expressway connecting Nyahururu to Kinamba. No such highway exists.

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