Kenya's Treasury eyes KSh 42.26 billion in toll concessions on two bypasses

Kenya's National Treasury is eyeing toll concessions worth KSh 42.26 billion (about US$326 million) for two bypass roads, one in Nairobi and one in Mombasa, Business Daily reported on 25 October 2026. Dollar figures in this report are converted at KSh 129.81 to the US dollar, the Central Bank of Kenya's rate for 15 October.

Disclosures cited by the newspaper show that the Nairobi Southern Bypass, which is complete and in use, is earmarked for a KSh 12.265 billion (about US$94 million) operations, maintenance and tolling concession. The planned Mombasa Northern Bypass has a proposed investment value of KSh 30 billion (about US$231 million) under a "user-tolls; viability gap funding (VGF) financed" model.

Under the Southern Bypass model, motorists who use the road, rather than taxpayers in general, would pay for its operation, maintenance and tolling. For the Mombasa road, construction costs would be split between government grants and private funding, and private investors would later recover their money by charging a toll.

The Treasury said a proposal by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to introduce tolls on the Southern Bypass is awaiting approval.

The Southern Bypass is 28.6 kilometres long and links Nairobi and Kiambu counties through Langata and Kikuyu. The Mombasa Northern Bypass is a planned 38.6-kilometre KeNHA project meant to ease traffic congestion and improve freight movement in Mombasa County. It has a 27.1-kilometre main bypass and an 11.5-kilometre Bamburi Link Road.

China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) built the Southern Bypass. The China project database of AidData, a research lab at the College of William & Mary in the US, shows that KeNHA and CRBC signed a US$216 million engineering, procurement and construction contract on 17 November 2010. A preferential buyer's credit from the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) financed about 85% of the contract. The loan's face value was later revised to US$176,538,461.54, with a 2% interest rate, a six-year grace period and a 20-year maturity. The database records the project as officially completed on 1 November 2016.

Motorists already pay tolls on the 27.1-kilometre Nairobi Expressway. Under rates gazetted in December 2023, the base toll for cars and other light two-axle vehicles ranges from KSh 170 to KSh 500 depending on the distance travelled; larger vehicles pay 1.5 to five times as much.

The Treasury has estimated a road infrastructure funding deficit of KSh 1.5 trillion over five years and KSh 4 trillion over a decade.