Kenya will get Sh17.73 billion loan from the African Development Bank to upgrade the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit road.
The bank on July 15 said in a statement that its board of directors had approved the financing of $150 million (Sh17,731,500,000) under a public-private partnership.
The road will cover 175km from Rironi to Mau Summit, which will be transformed into a four-lane dual carriageway, and 57.8km two-lane stretch from Rironi to Naivasha.
“The roads also form part of the strategic Northern Corridor, which is the busiest trade and transport corridor in East Africa, providing gateway access to Kenya’s landlocked neighbouring countries,” the bank said.
The road is key in linking the western part of the country, which provides a gateway to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other regional landlocked countries.
The loan will be managed by Rift Valley Highways Limited, owned by Vinci group and Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund, which on September 2020 entered a PPP concession agreement with the Kenya National Highways Authority to design, build, finance, operate, maintain and transfer the two highways over a period of 30 years.
“One major plus is that this project will improve the extremely poor safety record of the highway which has been identified as one of the most accident-prone in Kenya,” Nnenna Nwabufo, the director general for the Bank’s East Africa region, said.
The bank said the project is expected to generate 1,500 jobs during construction and 200 during operations. It will have at least 40 per cent local content in the form of labour and locally sourced materials.
Juma Akoko, a trader in Migori town who lost a lorry and a driver at Mau Summit three years ago in a fatal road accident, welcomed the move.
“We hope it will commence and be completed on time. Traffic jam at the Mau Summit road has been causing us delays in supply and delivery of goods,” Akoko said.
