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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ending tolling on Texas roads ‘would come at a high price’
    September 12, 2016
    Eliminating tolls on state highways throughout Texas would be prohibitively expensive, state legislators who are considering such a plan have learned, says the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) undertook research how much it would take to eliminate the highways for which it is responsible. It estimates the price of removing tolls on those highways would be at least US$24.2 billion and would increase over time, TxDOT executive director James Bass
  • Unmanned vehicles ‘to transform transportation within a few years’
    March 10, 2015
    According to new analysis from Frost and Sullivan, advances in sensor fusion technologies with high imaging capabilities to enhance manoeuvrability are quickening the development of unmanned vehicles. The resulting increase in the use of unmanned vehicles will eventually alter the dynamics of the transportation industry. The report, Innovations in Unmanned Vehicles–Land, Air, and Sea, finds that high-quality image and navigation sensors such as light detection and ranging systems, radar, and advanced global
  • OS data helps EVs and cities 
    November 8, 2021
    OS says new mapping techniques are addressing rapid urbanisation 
  • ASECAP examines tolling during downturns
    September 22, 2014
    ASECAP debated the impact of the financial crises on Europe’s tolling companies and considered the future in diverse economies. Colin Sowman picks some of the highlights. This year ASECAP (Association Europeenne des Concessionnaires d’Autoroutes et d’Ouvrages a’ Peage, with members in 21 countries managing 46,000km of roadway) held its annual Study & Information Days in Athens, Greece – one of the country hardest hit by recent economic problems. While the theme of the conference, Ensuring Sustainability in