Athi River (town)

Athi River Mavoko
Municipality
Photo of Athi River
Athi River Location in Kenya
Coordinates: 1°27′S 36°59′E / 1.450°S 36.983°E / -1.450; 36.983
Country	Kenya
County	Machakos County
Area
• Total	693 km2 (268 sq mi)
Population (2009)
• Total	139,380
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)
Climate	Cwb
Website	mavokomunicipal.or.ke

Athi River is a town outside Nairobi, Kenya in Machakos County. The town is named after the Athi River, which passes through. It is also known as Mavoko.

Athi River hosts the Mavoko Municipal Council and is the headquarters of Mavoko division, which is part of Machakos County. The town's population is 137,211 (2009 census), and it is still growing due to its proximity to the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi.

Mavoko was carved off the Nairobi County Council in 1963, when the latter was disbanded. Mavoko municipality has six wards (Athi River West, Katani, Kinanie/Mathani, Makadara, Muthwani and Sophia). All these wards belong to Kathiani constituency, which has a total of ten wards. The remaining four wards are within Masaku County Council.

The town is relatively industrialised for Kenya. There are six cement factories located within the town: Bamburi Cement, Mombasa Cement, East Africa Portland Cement Company, Savannah Cement, National Cement and Athi River Mining.

The Daystar University has a campus in the town.

Athi River has a railway station built in 1920 along the Uganda Railway, from Mombasa to Kisumu. There is also a new railway station on the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway.