In another Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, the Kenyan government is to embark on a 233-kilometre road project running from Nairobi to Mau Summit. The project is expected to commence in October 2021 after a deal was reached during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to France last week. A French consortium comprising Vinci Highways SAS, Vinci Concessions SAS and Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund will design, finance, construct, operate, maintain and eventually transfer the expressway after 30 years.
The existing two-lane highway will be expanded to a 4-lane dual carriage way. Other modifications will see Rironi-Mai Mahiu–Naivasha section become a seven-metre carriageway with two-metre shoulders on both sides, construction of a 4-km elevated highway through Nakuru town, and construction and improvement of interchanges along the highway.
The project will improve transport connections for people and goods between eastern and western parts of Kenya as well as neighbouring countries.
The project comes on the heels of Nairobi Expressway, another PPP project that started this year. The Kes 62 billion toll road from Mlolongo to Waiyaki Way is being constructed by China Road and Bridge Corporation in a build, operate, maintain and revert arrangement.
