Infrastructure

Nairobi-Mau Summit Highway Project Set for Kickoff

The Sh175 billion project is expected to get underway this year.

Updated on

April 30, 2024

The government is reportedly working on a new funding plan to reduce costs for the Nairobi-Mau Summit Road, expediting its long-awaited groundbreaking.

President William Ruto has initiated talks with financiers and other stakeholders, aiming to create an affordable funding strategy, as reported by the Daily Nation.

Dr. Ruto is said to be ‘strongly’ against the planned tolling of the highway, which he views as an undue burden on Kenyan citizens.

“President William Ruto has been strongly against the tolling of the highway. He feels the existing contract is very expensive and would put an unnecessary loan burden on Kenyans,” a source at the Ministry of Transport told the Nation.

At the same time, Dr. Ruto believes the road should be built as quickly as possible to boost economic activity in the Naivasha Special Economic Zone (NSEZ).

Indeed, during the recent launch of the Jumbo Africa Auto Auction at the NSEZ, the President expressed his wish for the project to begin by December.

“I want it to start before the end of this year because it will boost activities at the Naivasha Special Economic Zone. We will do the dualling of the road to Eldoret and continuously to Malaba,” he said.

In January, Transport Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, stated that the dualling of the 233-km highway would be done under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to reduce government spending on road construction.

Work on the $1.3 billion (Sh175 billion) highway from Rironi in Kiambu County to Mau Summit in Nakuru County was to begin in October 2021 following the signing of a deal between Kenya and a consortium of three French companies.

The French consortium, made up of Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS, indicated they were ready to break ground after the project received the backing of the African Development Bank and the World Bank.

The three companies had earlier won the tender to expand the main artery from Nairobi to western Kenya into a four-lane dual carriageway through a PPP model.

30 years

Known as the Rift Valley Highway Limited, the consortium was expected to recoup its investments in 30 years by charging toll fees on the road.

However, this did not happen due to unspecified challenges.

When President Ruto assumed leadership in September 2022, he put the project on hold, saying it was expensive – with the State initiating a review of the venture.

This is believed to have sparked a fallout between the two parties.

In July last year, Kenya presented the Nairobi-Mau Summit Road construction to Chinese investors as one of the key infrastructure projects that were up for grabs.

“We are ready to expedite discussions and conclude on details on the proposed projects for implementation,” said Dr. Ruto during a meeting with Wang Yi, the Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Office of China Central Committee and Director of the Office of Central Committee of Foreign Affairs.

The President said the highway could be pursued either under public-private partnerships or government-to-government.

Details of the meeting’s outcome are yet to be made public, but there is some positive development based on the latest happenings.

PPP model

The Rironi Mau Summit Road project will involve the upgrading of the A8 highway between Rironi and Mau Summit into a four-lane dual carriageway and future expansion into a six-lane carriageway in various sections.

It will be built on a PPP model in which a company builds a road and operates it for some years to recoup its investment before handing over the asset to the State.

Toll stations

The scope of work, which also involves rehabilitation of the 57.8 km single carriageway of the A8-South highway between Rironi and Naivasha via Mai Mahiu, will also involve the erection of toll stations under a PPP model.

“[The contractor] will be expected to build, maintain, manage and operate the highway and recover his money from motorists in the form of user fees,” the Kenya National Highway Authority said in a past statement.

In the original plan, Rift Valley Connect was to operate and maintain the Southern Bypass, as well as the recently upgraded Gitaru to Rironi segment.

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