Kenya’s National Treasury has officially scrapped plans for the US $36 billion Nairobi–Mombasa Expressway, once touted as Africa’s largest toll road project. Instead, the government has directed the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to reconfigure the plan into an expansion of the existing A8 highway.
The four-lane expressway was to be developed under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model by American private equity firm Everstrong Capital Kenya, with the goal of reducing travel costs between the capital and the port city of Mombasa. However, after reviewing the proposal, the Treasury’s PPP committee resolved to terminate the agreement, citing its failure to meet key evaluation criteria as outlined in Section 43(11)(c) of the PPP Act, 2021.
Project re-evaluation
The committee instructed KeNHA to restructure the project into a highway expansion and resubmit it for evaluation under Section 43(12) of the Act. The move effectively ends what would have been one of the largest U.S.-backed infrastructure projects on the continent, in a space where Chinese-funded developments ranging from railways to ports have dominated in recent years.
According to officials, a previous project development report submitted by Everstrong had already been rejected. While the PPP Directorate has indicated the proposal could be reconsidered if identified gaps are addressed, sources close to the matter point to major hurdles, particularly uncertainty over land acquisition.
Preliminary estimates put the cost of securing the necessary land at Sh12.9 billion, a factor likely to drive up toll rates. Early projections suggested motorists could pay between Sh12 and Sh13 per kilometer equating to roughly Sh5,280 for the full journey unless construction costs were substantially reduced. The Nairobi–Mombasa Expressway has faced setbacks before. In 2018, U.S.-based engineering giant Bechtel was selected to undertake the project, but talks collapsed over disagreements on financing terms.