The government has cut the pace of construction of new roads by 62 percent over the past four years of the current administration, official data shows, with the length tarmacked staying below pre-2022 levels.
The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) built 2,584.25km of roads between financial years 2022/23 and 2025/26, compared with 6,813km in the preceding four years.
The State Department for Roads says in a latest budgetary report to the National Treasury that construction increased by 24.75 kilometres, or 3.25 percent, in the year ended June 2026 despite additional financing raised through securitisation of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF).
The report shows routine road maintenance improved, with the length of roads covered rising 18.5 percent to 31,105.56km last financial year from 26,255.65km a year earlier.
However, this remained 24 percent below the 40,988km maintained in the financial year ended June 2022.
The State Department for Roads said 2,089.25km were constructed in three years to June 2026, “largely facilitated by the securitisation” of the RMLF.
The department said the financing enabled settlement of pending payment certificates and accelerated implementation of road projects, providing a critical lifeline to stalled works.
The government raised the RMLF from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre of petrol and diesel in July 2024, increasing the revenue pool available for roads.
The State subsequently committed part of those collections to investors, using future fuel levy receipts to raise money for settling historical road-sector obligations through a concept known as securitisation, in which cash flow from underlying assets is used to secure funding by lenders or investors.
In April 2025, Sh7 from every Sh25 collected per litre was securitised to secure Sh175 billion through bank bridge facilities and bonds.
The Cabinet approved a further Sh5 per litre in November 2025, taking the portion committed to investors to Sh12 per litre and enabling the Kenya Roads Board to raise more cash for road construction and maintenance.
The securitisation was designed partly to clear outstanding bills owed to contractors, arrears which had constrained the implementation of road projects across the country.
President William Ruto said in March that the government planned to bring a road maintenance levy fund securitisation bond to the market and list it on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
“In the course of this year [2026], we will be bringing to the market the road maintenance levy fund securitisation bond, which has enabled us to settle the pending bills crisis that had stalled road projects everywhere in Kenya,” he said.
“The RMLF has raised for us Sh175 billion, and we will be bringing it here (to the Nairobi Securities Exchange) so people can trade it as well.”
The planned bond will help refinance part of the estimated Sh175 billion in bank loans used to clear historical road-sector pending bills up to December 2024.
Investors will receive payments from the securitised RMLF, with Sh12 from every Sh25 collected from each litre of petrol and diesel effectively committed to servicing the financing.
The funding intervention has coincided with a recovery in road construction, but official figures show that the rebound has yet to restore the pace achieved before the current administration took office.
Before fiscal year 2022/23, the three road agencies were constructing more than 1,500km annually on average, with output peaking at 2,014 km in the year ended June 2019.
Analysis of the latest four-year average shows new roads built fell to 646km annually, from 1,703 km previously, highlighting the impact of the government’s fiscal squeeze on infrastructure projects in the early years of President Ruto’s administration.
President Ruto said in May 2023 that his administration had inherited about Sh900 billion in road-sector commitments from the previous government.
“We have tried to cut it down; we have tried to cut some of the roads that have not started. But we remain with about Sh680 billion that we have to manage,” Dr Ruto said at the time.
The resulting fiscal squeeze forced the government to prioritise projects while contractors faced delayed payments, contributing to the sharp contraction in new road construction in fiscal year 2022/23—Dr Ruto’s financial year in office.
Road construction plunged to 495km in the financial year ended 2023 from 1,729km the year before, a 71.4 percent decline as the administration rationalised projects and grappled with inherited commitments from the previous regime.
Road output then edged up to 542km in fiscal year 2023/24 before recovering to 761.25km in that year and 786km in the year ended June.
The recovery, however, remains modest compared with the previous pace, with road construction last financial year still 54.5 percent below the 1,729km delivered in the year that ended June 2022.
