Important highway construction work is underway in Kenya at present - image © courtesy of Shem Oirere
The contract for Kenya’s Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit highway route has been awarded. The package was awarded to Rift Valley Highway, a firm belonging jointly to of Vinci Highways, Vinci Concessions and Meridiam.
The PPP deal is worth some US$1.5 billion in all. The work involves improving and widening the existing route. Construction work is scheduled to take 42 months and will see the route being rebuilt with two lanes in either direction along a 175km length.
Rift Valley Highway has the 30-year concession package for the route, which includes designing, financing, widening, renovating, operating and maintaining the highway. A number of subsidiaries of Vinci Construction have formed a consortium to carry out the construction work.
The agreement for the deal will come into force once a full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment has been carried out that meets the requirements of the World Bank. The financial portion of the project should be completed by the end of 2021.
The opening of the route will help develop Kenya’s tourism sector in the Rift Valley as well as boosting road safety and lowering journey times between Nairobi, Nakuru and Mau Summit.
