Nakuru West MP Samuel Arama has stated that motorists will be required to pay Ksh 1,500 as toll fees for using the Nakuru–Rironi–Mau Summit road once it is completed.

While speaking during an interview aired on local TV on Saturday, September 6, 2025, the MP said that upon completion, the Chinese company tasked with rehabilitating the road will introduce a toll fee of Ksh 1,500 for motorists travelling from Nairobi to Nakuru, similar to the charges on the Nairobi Motorway from Westlands to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Arama, who is also a member of the Transport Committee in the National Assembly, revealed that under former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime, the government had engaged a French company to handle the project.

However, the firm had proposed charging road users over Ksh3,000 in toll fees for the next 35 years along the Nairobi–Nakuru route via the Rironi–Mau Summit road.

Contract terms

When the current regime assumed power, the contract was terminated to protect Kenyans from the high costs. According to Arama, the termination came with a hefty penalty of Ksh5 billion, which the Ruto administration committed to pay.

“Kutoka Nairobi hadi Nakuru ilikuwa ulipe kama Ksh3000 for the next 35 years; wakati the new administration iliangalia, wakasema, wacha wabadilishe, wakaenda, wakabadilisha. You know the contract had already been signed by the former government, and the contract terms were, ‘If you want to terminate the contract, you pay Ksh5 billion,’” Arama stated.

The project was thereafter handed over to a Chinese firm, which was ready to construct the road at a much cheaper rate than the French could have done it.

According to Arama, the cost for the construction of the road is almost half with toll fees, with road users now required to pay 1500 from Nairobi to Nakuru.

“Hii serikali ikasema inataka kuleta wachina, wale wafaransa watoke; ikatakiwa tulipe hio kampuni Ksh5 billion,” he added.

“You know the process; according to what now, the government has paid that Ksh5 billion for terminating the contracts, and the road has now been given back to the Chinese, na sasa itakuwa pesa kidogo sana kutoka Nairobi kuja Nakuru. Initially, they were to pay Ksh3000; now it has been reduced to Ksh1500 from Nairobi to Nakuru“.