As one approaches the nearly complete Athi River interchange from Nairobi, the two tall cylindrical towers appear to have been placed smack in the middle of Mombasa Road.
They are the cement silos for Mombasa Cement, established in 2007 and on the left, off a rough road, is its older and better known neighbour, Bamburi Cement.
The area around Athi River, in the northern part of Machakos County, is the cement headquarters of Kenya, with six firms based there.
The latest entrant is National Cement, owned by the Devki Group, which has set up its cement mixing plant near Lukenya Hill.
With its factory commissioned in 1958, East Africa Portland Company is the oldest cement firm in the area.
The others are Bamburi, Athi River Mining, Mombasa Cement, Catic Kenya and National.
But why establish the factories in Athi River and not at Thika, Kenya's more popular industrial town, or anywhere else?
Mr Daniel Ndunda, who manages Bamburi's grinding plant at Athi River, said the main factor was proximity to the big market for cement in Nairobi and its surroundings.
"You cannot also ignore the aspect of infrastructure. We have the roads running from Mombasa all the way to the hinterland, including Rwanda and Southern Sudan. There is also the railway line which we can go back to when the need arises," said Mr Ndunda.
Land is also relatively cheaper in Athi River than it nearer the capital, and the black cotton soil of Athi River is not suitable for agriculture.
In addition there us an abundance of pozzollana -- the blue stone used for building -- which is an ingredient in the final stage in grinding cement.
Gypsum, also an ingredient for the final mix, is also readily available from Kajiado, Isinya and Konza nearby, and the improvement of the roads in the area has helped to ensure easy transport.
Bamburi employs 350 people at Athi River, including outsourced services such as security, and Mr Ndunda said the availability of labour was another attraction.
Perhaps the cement manufacturers' biggest headache lay in the transport of clinker -- formed when limestone, kunkur, and bauxite and iron ore are ground together at high temperatures -- from the mills in Mombasa.
For Bamburi, the need to monitor the company's trucks has necessitated the adoption of a tracking system to ensure drivers not only stick to timelines but also drive safely.
East African Portland Cement produces their clinker at Athi River and has thus been spared the need to transport it with the attendant risks.
Mr Ndunda said Bamburi produced 24 million 50-kilogramme bags of cement each year.
EAPC say on their website their annual production is 1.3 million tonnes of cement, which is 26 million bags, while Devki chairman Narendra Raval said in a recent newspaper article his company produced 400,000 tonnes, or eight million bags, in the same period.
The presence of the cement factories in Machakos County could benefit the area as a direct source of revenue as well as employment.
In the past, residents have complained about environmental pollution by the factories.
But Mr Ndunda said Bamburi, which is part of the global La Farge group, is run to the international standards demanded by the cement giant.
He said the factory did not produce dust in its operations, although the trucks that line up to deliver clinker from Mombasa or take the product to the market did stir up dust.
EAPC said in a statement on its website that the plant used bags and electrostatic filters to capture dust and that the company had invested heavily to ensure that the environment was not affected by its operations.
Other industries in the area were the Devki Steel Mills, Athi River Steel, Saj Ceramics and the Kenya Meat Commission, which was revived in 2006 after its collapse 15 years earlier.
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