With Chinese official’s visit, Kenyan president says deal to fund and build highway is close

Kenyan President Ruto says talks are at a late stage for China to finance and build highway through Rift Valley and possible SGR extension

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Li Xi, a member of China’s Politburo Standing Committee meets Kenyan President William Ruto at State House Nairobi on Monday. Photo: Office of Kenya President

Published: 6:00pm, 5 Nov 2024

Talks are at a late stage for China to finance and build a major highway in Kenya that passes through the Rift Valley to the western part of the country and possibly bankroll the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to Malaba on the border with Uganda.

The progress was revealed when Kenyan President William Ruto held talks with Li Xi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at State House in Nairobi on Monday.

According to the president’s office, Ruto said discussions were advanced over the construction of the Rironi-Mau Summit road, a project taken from French firms that had initially won the contract to build the dual carriageway.

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A French consortium won a US$1.4 billion contract to build the 233km (144-mile) Rironi-Naivasha-Nakuru-Mau Summit Road during the previous Kenyan administration of Uhuru Kenyatta but the Ruto administration cancelled the deal when it came to power in 2022, saying it was costly.

Ruto also said talks were ongoing to extend the SGR sections from Naivasha, a town in the Central Rift Valley, to the lake city of Kisumu and then onwards to the border town of Malaba.

China Exim Bank funded the 590km first phase of the railway, built by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and its parent firm China Communications Construction Company, for more than US$5 billion.

The railroad runs from the coastal city of Mombasa to Nairobi with an extension to Naivasha in the Central Rift Valley. However, the railway’s construction ended abruptly in Naivasha after China Exim Bank pulled the plug on financing the extension to Malaba without a new commercial viability study.