Ruto urges China to take up the Mau Summit Highway initially awarded to France
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Ruto call on China delegation visiting Kenya to take up the Mau Summit Highway which was initially awarded to a French consortium
Ruto call on China delegation visiting Kenya to take up the Mau Summit Highway which was initially awarded to a French consortium.
Following a price dispute with the French, President William Ruto’s administration has proposed the Sh184 billion Mau Summit Highway to Chinese investors.
This is the latest development in the controversy over how to pay for what is expected to be Kenya’s largest road project.
On Saturday, the President and other top government officials informed a Chinese delegation that one of the ongoing infrastructure projects that were up for grabs was the dualling of the 233-kilometer highway.
China had in the past lobbied to be part of the action.
The tender was initially won by a French consortium.
However, Roads and Transport Principal Secretary Joseph Mbugua stated last month that the $1.3 billion Mau Summit highway project had been postponed by the Kenya Kwanza administration.
Mr Mbugua said that the government found the total cost of the project to be too high given the current dynamics where Kenya is in a tight fiscal space.
He revealed that the government was negotiating with the contractors and financiers, a move that will delay the roll-out of the project that has attracted financiers such as the World Bank and the African Development Fund.
“We are still in negotiation. It became a bit hard for us to afford going by the current dynamics, so we requested them to review their presentation to be able to see whether we can make them affordable,” said Mr Mbugua.
In a State House meeting on Saturday, the government made an effort to persuade the Chinese to enter the competition for building the 233-kilometer toll road between Nairobi, Nakuru, and Mau Summit.
According to Ruto, the Kenyan government and its Chinese counterpart have begun bilateral discussions on completing a number of ongoing road projects, including extending the 175 km (4 lane) dual highway.
“We are ready to expedite discussions and conclude on details on the proposed projects for implementation,” said the President during a high-level meeting with Wang Yi, the Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Office of China Central Committee and Director of the Office of Central Committee of Foreign Affairs.
Ruto noted that these projects can be pursued either under public-private partnerships or government-to-government.
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For his part, Mr Wang noted that China would focus on areas that would help Kenya to prosper.
“China will consider the Kenya government’s priority areas of interest,” he said.
Besides the dualling of the Mau Summit, the government plans to upgrade the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and the ports of Mombasa and Lamu.
The French consortium made up of Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS was tasked to expand the main artery from Nairobi to western Kenya into a four-lane dual carriageway through a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The consortium, known as the Rift Valley Highway Limited, was expected to recoup its investments in 30 years by charging toll fees on the road.
However, the Ruto administration is yet to approve the construction of the project which was slated to kick off in September 2021.
The project, which has the financial backing of the World Bank and the African Development Bank, was initiated by then president Uhuru Kenyatta.
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