Road maintenance in Kenya hit a six-year low in the financial year ended June 2025. During the financial year 2024/25, the amount of kilometres that were repaired by the government decreased by 28 percent to 35,965 kilometres.
This came as the government slashed funds that are collected and allocated to road maintenance. At the same time, road construction and maintenance agencies in the country failed to meet their annual targets for the first time in nearly ten years. These agencies missed the maintenance targets by up to 5,148 kilometres.
According to the Department for Roads, the low number of roads that were maintained in the year was due to a reduction in allocations from the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF). These reductions were the result of the government diverting funds from the levy for administrative use and for securitization of new loans.
The cuts affected allocations that are sent to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA).
KeNHA which manages and maintains highways and major roads across the country suffered an 18 percent reduction from Sh20.6 billion to Sh16.8 billion. Sh1 billion was cut from KeRRA’s allocation to Sh18.1 billion. KURA ‘s allocation was set at Sh6.6 billion which represented a cut of Sh2.4 billion.
In addition, the Kenya Wildlife Service which is tasked with maintenance of roads in national parks and game reserves suffered a cut of Sh60.8 million to Sh639 million.
In the same financial year, the government increased the roads maintenance levy by 39 percent from Sh18 per litre to Sh25 per litre. However, the Kenya Roads Board used the extra Sh7 per litre to securitize a Sh175 billion loan which was alleged to be for the purpose of settling pending bills that were owed to road contractors.
The Sh7 per litre of fuel increase in road maintenance levy was first hatched by former Cabinet Secretary for Transport Kipchumba Murkomen who is now in charge of Interior. CS Murkomen had claimed that the increase was necessary as the levy was last adjusted in the year 2016.
READ MORE: The problems with mega Rironi-Mau Summit A8 toll highway deal
