Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Highway is expected to begin taking shape this September, according to Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia.
The more than KSh 168 Billion project will be undertaken by Rift Valley Connect Consortium, which comprises French firms Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund and Vinci Concessions SAS.
Highway similar to the arrangement on JKIA-Westlands Expressway
The contract, which was signed during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to France last year, will be undertaken on a Public-Private Partnership(PPP) arrangement in which a company builds a highway and operates it for some years recoup its investment before handing over the road to the State.
A similar arrangement is playing out on the JKIA-Westlands Expressway, a project undertaken by China Road and Bridge Corporation, and is scheduled to be completed by December 2022.
Four firms had earlier contested the award of the Nairobi-Mau Summit link by Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), an appeal that was later thrown out.
Rift Valley Connect will design, finance, construct, operate, maintain, and transfer the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit road.
This project will involve upgrading the 175km link between Mau Summit and Rironi into a four-lane dual and then into a six-lane carriageway in various sections through Nakuru.
According to KenHa, the contractor will build, maintain, manage and operate the road and recover the investment from motorists in the form of user fees.
The Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit road is being implemented by KenHa and involves building a four-lane dual carriageway from Rironi to Mau Summit.
Rift Valley Connect will then recoup its finances using the revenues and income generated by the electronic toll collection system along the road over 30 years.
The project will also involve widening the existing Rironi- Mai Mahiu–Naivasha road to becoming a seven-metre carriageway with two-metre shoulders on both sides.
Constructing a four-kilometre elevated highway through Nakuru town and building and improvement of interchanges along the route.
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