Skip to main content

Kenya plans road toll tenders

Kenya plans to start tendering in May for toll-road contracts estimated by the government to be worth $2 billion to improve the efficiency of the East African nation’s biggest commercial routes, according to Bloomberg. The contracts will be in addition to the 45 deals worth about US$3.2 billion that the government will start awarding as early as next week, to double the nation’s paved-road network through an annuity program. The government is planning to introduce five toll projects covering about 800 kilom
March 25, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSKenya plans to start tendering in May for toll-road contracts estimated by the government to be worth $2 billion to improve the efficiency of the East African nation’s biggest commercial routes, according to Bloomberg.

The contracts will be in addition to the 45 deals worth about US$3.2 billion that the government will start awarding as early as next week, to double the nation’s paved-road network through an annuity program.

The government is planning to introduce five toll projects covering about 800 kilometres (500 miles), including a new 482-kilometre dual-carriage highway between the port city of Mombasa and the capital, Nairobi, Stanley Kamau, director of the Public Private Partnership Unit at the Treasury, said in an interview this week.

Kenya is retaining 5019 PricewaterhouseCoopers to advise on the development and maintenance of the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, while it hired Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats of India for the same scope of work for a new 176-kilometre highway connecting the capital to the south-western city of Nakuru. Intercontinental consultants will also advise on the operation and maintenance of the 80-kilometer Nairobi-Thika road, according to the Treasury.

The Treasury is drawing from a US$40-million World Bank loan to carry out feasibility studies for the projects and partly finance land acquisition.

Kenya is seeking funds from private sources to support its plans expand transport infrastructure and create a regional transportation hub that will help it accelerate economic growth to 10 percent by 2017 from 5.4 percent last year.

“With the private sector, we can do what government aspires for in infrastructure development faster, than when relying on public funds alone,” Kamau said. “We should have toll guidelines by April, then start the tendering process.”

John Musonik, infrastructure principal secretary at the Transport Ministry said winners of the first contracts under the road annuity program could be announced next week. The government is setting up a Road Annuity Fund to expedite construction of roads in a country where less than 10 per cent of the 161,000-kilometer network is paved, according to the Kenya Roads Board.

Related Content

  • February 27, 2017
    Uganda toll road secures funding
    The European Union, International Finance Corporation, France’s AFD and African Development Bank have committed to funding of up to US$400 million for the US$1.1-billion project to construct the 77-kilometre tolled highway in Uganda, according to Engineering News-Record. The private sector will provide an additional US$300 million. The road will link the capital Kampala to the industrial eastern city of Jinja and is designed to speed up freight flow to landlocked Rwanda, eastern Democratic Republic of Co
  • June 22, 2015
    Brazil infrastructure concessions tempt investors
    Private sector players are interested in US$45.8 billion of infrastructure concession projects planned as part of the second round of the country's logistics improvement program PIL. According to planning minister Nelson Barbosa, who said each of the concessions had attracted the attention of at least two potential bidders, the government was working to award tenders based on the highest canon payment offered as opposed to the lowest tariff and to reduce the 49 per cent participation of national airport
  • November 6, 2013
    Paraguay’s ten-year road plan
    Paraguay plans to carry out 33 priority road projects, totalling US$2.44 billion, with the aim of having 8,000 kilometres of the national road network paved in the next ten years, according to the public works and communications ministry (MOPC). The projects fall within MOPC's strategic road investment plan for 2013-18, which aims to improve internal connectivity as well as prioritise the development of roads that connect with neighbouring countries. In addition, MOPC aims to increase the involvement of
  • April 18, 2012
    Key Russian PPP project
    The Northern Capital Highway (NCH) consortium has been named the preferred bidder in the tender for the central section of St Petersburg’s Western High-Speed Diameter (WHSD) project. Should NCH win the tender process it will build and then operate the entire stretch of the toll road. The consortium comprises VTB Capital and Gazprombank from Russia in partnership with Italian company Astaldi and Turkish firm Ictas Insaat.