Design changes on the Rironi-Nakuru-Mau Summit toll road have triggered emergency land purchases by the State, signalling new variations in the cost of the Sh183.7 billion project.
Insiders told the Business Daily that multiple interchanges have been added to the 233-kilometre road’s design, prompting the State to make emergency land purchases to accommodate the bridges and underpasses that were not included in the initial project plan.
“The contractors have have recommended variations in the initial design and introduced interchanges along the route. We have had to make emergency land purchases to cover for these new components which were not envisaged in the initial design,” a Transport ministry official said.
The State, through the National Land Commission (NLC), has started the emergency land acquisitions in sections including Kijabe, Limuru, Kirenga, and Naivasha under a special arrangement known as ‘early entry.’
The ‘early entry’ concept in land acquisition allows an acquiring authority or buyer to access and use a property before the formal transfer or final compensation is fully completed. It prevents costly project delays for urgent public or private developments.
NLC chairman Abdillahi Saggaf Alawy last week listed about 25 hectares for compulsory purchase across Kiambu, Nakuru and Nyandarua counties.
“Since we already have contractors on site, it was only sensible to opt for ‘early entry’ land acquisitions not to heavily compromise the timelines and cost of the project. There may be some slight variations in the final budget of the project because of the adjustments in design,” the Transport ministry official said.
“We expect the NLC to conduct valuation on the tracts of land marked for emergency purchase for interchanges, and from there we will have the figures on how much more the State will pay for the project.”
The Treasury disclosed a budget of Sh816 million over the four years to June 2026 to pay off landowners displaced by the dualling of the Rironi-Mau Summit highway.
The government has set targets to complete the section from Rironi to Naivasha by December 2026 and the overall project by June 2027.
The fresh land purchases across the Mau-Summit project corridor come nearly eight years after the State bought some parcels in 2018 to allow for the initial planned expansion of the road.
The Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau- Summit highway project was initially planned to be implemented by a France-backed consortium, made up of Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS.
The consortium was primed to build the Sh150 billion road and recoup its investments in 30 years by charging toll fees.
A standoff over a Sh299 billion service fee over 13 years, however, prompted President William Ruto’s government in 2024 to cancel the deal with the consortium of French contractors for the construction of the toll road.
Disclosures by the Treasury revealed a secret fee of Sh23 billion annually.
The State then shifted the project contract to China-backed firms. A consortium of China Road and Bridge Corporation and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) will build the 81-km road from Nairobi to Gilgil via Naivasha and a 58-km stretch from Nairobi to Naivasha through Maai Mahiu.
A second Chinese contractor, Shandong Hi-Speed Road & Bridge International Engineering, was awarded a contract to build, finance, and operate the 94-kilometre Gilgil–Nakuru–Mau Summit road section.
The Nairobi-Mau-Summit road falls within the Northern Corridor, which is one of the busiest and most important transport corridors in East and Central Africa, providing a gateway through Kenya to the landlocked economies of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The highway serves as a transportation link for approximately six million Kenyans.
A study by the Kenya National Highways Authority indicated that vehicular traffic on the highway averaged 14,450 vehicles per day in 2017, or 5.3 million per year.
Traffic was projected to increase by seven percent from 2017 to 2025, then by six percent until 2035, and by five percent until 2045 to reach an average number of vehicles per day of 60,000.
The government is also planning to construct more expressways on key transport corridors to ease the rising traffic congestion and spur both local and foreign investment. Currently, there is only one expressway in the country –the 27-kilometre Nairobi Expressway, running from Mlolongo to Westlands.
Kenya has stepped up preparations for a dual toll highway to traverse Eldoret and extend to the border with Uganda, in a bid to ease movement across the two countries.
A consortium of Canadian and Kenyan firms has already begun pre-feasibility studies to expand the 243-kilometre Mau Summit-Eldoret-Malaba highway from two to four lanes under the public-private partnership model. The Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank is funding the study.
A work plan shows that the project will join the Rironi-Mau Summit dual highway, marking a departure from the earlier plan, which was to extend it on the Kisumu–Busia–Malaba side.
The Mau Summit-Eldoret-Malaba section, which is part of the Northern Corridor, currently experiences heavy traffic and is prone to accidents.
