The Rironi-Mau Summit toll road contractor will earn an operating profit of USD2.63 billion equivalent to about Sh339.8 billion, projections have shown. These earnings will be corrected over the 30-year period that they will operate the road charging a minimum toll of Sh8 per kilometre.
Chinese construction firm China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) have been announced as the preferred contractors for the road by the National Treasury’s Public-Private Partnership Committee.
According to the project’s costs and earnings projections that appeared in a local daily, the total revenues will come in at around USD4.88 billion which is equivalent to about Sh630.3 billion against total costs of about USD2.25 billion which is about Sh290.5 billion.
The Rironi-Mau Summit toll road project costs include about USD1.49 billion (equivalent to around Sh193.4 billion) of capital expenditure and USD753.8 million (equivalent to around Sh97.6 billion) of the highway’s life cycle operations costs and routine maintenance and periodic rehabilitation.
The projected costs will cover the 175 kilometre stretch from Nairobi to Nakuru to Mau Summit known as A8, and the 56-kilometre stretch known as A8 South from Nairobi to Mai Mahiu to Naivasha.
READ MORE: NSSF, Chinese contractor to build Sh170bn Rironi-Mau Summit toll highway
Initially, it was expected that the Mau Summit road project would be funded through debt at a tune of Sh120 billion with the balance topped up by the consortium. Under the new projections, debt will account for USD1.11 billion (equivalent to around Sh144 billion) and equity from the consortium will be USD371 million (equivalent to around Sh48 billion).
The National Treasury’s Public-Private Partnership Committee’s Director-General Kefa Seda has come out to say that the Chinese consortium was picked because it presented lower toll charges compared to the competitors who had also presented proposals for evaluation. “The base toll was lower,” Kefa told the media.
The Chinese-led consortium had been selected over other bidders including the Shandong Hi-Speed Road & Bridge International Engineering Co. Ltd.
Bidding for the Rironi-Mau Summit toll road project was reopened after the government cancelled the construction of the highway in April 2024. The cancellation had followed a fallout between the current government and the financiers from France who had been tipped to construct the highway by the government of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The French consortium made up of Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS was set to expand the main highway from Nairobi to western Kenya into a four-lane dual carriageway through a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Initially, the highway was meant to be used on a toll-basis. Users of the Mau Summit highway were to pay Sh. 6 per kilometre. This would translate to Sh. 1,398 for the entire Rironi-Nakuru-Mau Summit highway.
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