The government has revealed that two Chinese firms are battling for the multibillion-shilling tender to upgrade the Mau Summit toll road, which was initially awarded to a French consortium before the project was cancelled for being costly.
A consortium of China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) is one of the two parties that have expressed interest to construct the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit and Rironi-Maai Mahiu-Naivasha Road Project, which has submitted its privately-initiated proposal (PiP) to the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha), the contracting authority.
The other Chinese company angling for the project, and has also submitted its PiP to Kenha, is Shandong Hi-Speed Road & Bridge Group Co.
Kenha wants the upgrade of the 175 km highway to be carried out through a public-private partnership (PPP), a departure from the common practice of government financing such big-ticket projects through taxes or borrowing.
"The privately-initiated proposals will be subjected through the PPP procurement process which entails: evaluation of proposals, project development activities, evaluation of the project development report, negotiations and drafting of the project agreement, stakeholders agreement and finally obtaining requisite approvals required under the PPP Act 2021,” said Kenha.
“Having undertaken the above processes, the PPP Committee will render its decision to Kenha in accordance with the Act. Kenha will endeavour to abide by the provisions of Section 69 of the PPP Act, which requires a contracting authority (CA) to publish information relating to the projects upon award. This will be disclosed at the appropriate time upon conclusion of the statutory processes,” added Kenha.
Kenya is set to pay the consortium of French contractors Sh6.2 billion for the termination of the toll road contract by the end of the current financial year, which ends in June.
The government terminated the Sh190 billion (1.3 billion euro) highway expansion deal with the consortium — comprising Vince Highways SAS, Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund and Vinci Concessions SAS — citing, among other things, high toll fees.
Instead, President William Ruto’s government pitched the project to the Chinese, with the new contractor expected to undertake a fresh feasibility study, abandoning the one done by the French contractors.
Initially, there was a push to have the new contractor settle the Sh6.2 billion compensation bill and inherit works done by the French contractor, but this proposal was dropped during Dr Ruto’s visit to China at the end of last month.
The termination of the project, which was to be funded from various sources like the Vinci Group, loans from the African Development Bank (AfDB), and guarantees from the World Bank, risked exposing Kenya to litigation and a diplomatic spat with France, which had backed its firms for the deal.
