Queries as State plans to spend Sh1b per km of road
By Rawlings Otieno, August 18, 2025The government risks spending at least Sh1 billion to construct a kilometre of the proposed Rironi-Mau Summit dual carriage road, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has warned.
This, even as he charged that the expansion of Rironi-Mau Summit Road (Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit) should be done as a government-funded project and without tolling or making users pay, adding that the same should happen to Nairobi-Mombasa Highway.
According to the former National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee chair, the project will cost Sh175 billion, which means that the contractor will spend Sh1 billion for every kilometre of road to complete the 170km distance.
“Why can’t the government look at other avenues of raising money? The government has a 35 per cent stake in Safaricom. They can easily sell 10 per cent and get Sh100 billion to build and expand the road to Nakuru and even without making it a tollable road for Kenyans to pay to use,” charged Nyoro.
He went on: “Finance cost has been loaded into this project. Finance costs will end up being more than the money that is going into the road. Why do we need to do that when Kenya has assets and alternatives for funding these roads?”
Toll stations
He further argued that introducing tolling stations along the Rironi-Mau Summit dual carriageway would make the economy less efficient and dampen the ease of doing business in the country.
This, even as he cautioned that the move would further burden motorists with extra levies since they are already paying for the Road Maintenance Levy.
“Motorists will be made to pay for fuel, road maintenance levy in the fuel and again be needed to pay an extra fee to use the Rironi-Mau Summit Road. Kenyans in the Western part of Kenya deserve this road to be dualled, but it will not serve our economy when this road is packaged as a business model. When we institute tolling, what we are basically doing is increasing the cost of doing business,” said Nyoro.
According to Nyoro, the Ministry of Roads, through KeNHA instituting charges on the projects that are in the pipeline to be built, adding that road infrastructure plays a critical role, but there is a need to look at the cost of the usage of the roads.
“When we continue instituting tolling, we are basically increasing the cost of doing business. The motorists will be made to pay for the fuel they will need to pay an extra fee to use this road. In PPPs, they are not private, they are public.”
The upgrade of the Nairobi-Nakuru highway that is commonly referred to as the Rironi to Mau Summit to a dual carriageway is likely to begin end of the month.
Chinese firms are among the companies that have expressed interest in the project that is expected to be undertaken in two years.
Early this month, the Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davies Chirchir confirmed the dualling of the Rironi-Nakuru and Nakuru-Eldoret highways would begin before the end of August.
Harness regional trade
Chirchir further explained that the multi-billion-dollar project will stretch from Rironi, where the Nairobi-Limuru dual carriage ends, all the way to Mau Summit-Eldoret and finally Malaba, once completed, will deepen regional trade and connectivity between Nairobi and Western Kenya.
“We are looking at Rironi, Naivasha, Nakuru, Mau Summit to Eldoret. The A8 and A8 South sections will both be covered. We plan to undertake the dualling under the PPP framework. Several concession proponents are already in the development phase,” said Chirchir.
Chirchir explained that although no contractor has been formally awarded the tender, technical assessments, including geotechnical soil testing, are already underway to prepare the ground for the construction.
“You will notice ongoing drilling works along the route as engineers check soil profiles. We expect the results in 10 days, after which we can move towards awarding the contract,” said Chirchir.