Kenya to Hold Talks with US Company over Construction of Sh300 Billion Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway

The Government of Kenya is set to hold discussions with US construction company Bechtel over the construction of multi-billion Nairobi-Mombasa expressway.

The two sides will from next week engage on the the financing model for the proposed Sh300 billion mega project, the only of its kind in East and Central Africa.

The government wants Bechtel to source funds for the 473-kilometre road and recoup its investment by charging a toll fee, but Bechtel has been pushing Kenya to secure a loan for the project.

Bechtel argues that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model suggested by the government, will cost taxpayers more than Sh500 billion over the next 25 years.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said the government will hold talks with Bechtel starting Monday to deliberate on the best financing framework for the project.

“Bechtel team will be coming from 9th July to have a detailed discussion with us (Treasury) and other agencies. They have already done some work and we have agreed to continue that discussion,” Rotich said.

“We will commence detailed discussion on how the financing approach will be undertaken under that project. We will be discussing modalities, financing structuring and the details for us to be clear on how to undertake this project.”

The four-lane dual highway is expected to ease congestion between the two cities by offering an uninterrupted movement of cars at a speed of 120 kilometres per hour.

The decision to construct the mega infrastructure came after a recommendation by consultancy, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which carried out a feasibility study in February 2015.

In May, Transport and Infrastructure CS James Macharia said funding the road under the PPP model would ease the debt repayment pressure on taxpayers compared to public model.

The expressway will run parallel to the existing Nairobi- Mombasa highway, but will have interchanges to facilitate fast exit.