France losses Sh160bn Mau Summit-Rironi highway project deal to China

NAIROBI – France has lost the project to expand the Mau Summit-Rironi highway to China. 

This emerged on Saturday following talks between President William Ruto and China”s top diplomat Wang Yi, during his three-day visit to Kenya. 

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Wang, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party Of China Central Committee and Director of the Office of Central Committee for Foreign Affairs, arrived in Kenya on Friday for what has been seen as a push back against the West’s influence in Kenya and the continent. 

This part of his visit to Nigeria and South Africa, where he will attend the 13th Meeting of BRICS National Security Advisers and High Representatives on National Security in Johannesburg from July 24 to 25. 

During his talks with President Ruto, the two states agreed to deepen ties to enhance infrastructure cooperation and spur Kenya’s economic growth. 

President Ruto said his government will work closely with China on infrastructure development, climate change, ICT, education and security, and that Kenya was particularly focused on the development of roads under the Forum on China Africa Cooperation. 

Among the projects the President indicated the Chinese will be involved in include the upgrading of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the dualing of Rironi-Naivasha-Nakuru-Mau Summit and the ports of Mombasa and Lamu. 

President Ruto said the development of a new Greenfield terminal and a new runway at JKIA, the dualing of Rironi-Naivasha-Nakuru-Mau Summit will elevate the country’s competitiveness. 

The projects, he said, will be pursued either under the Public-Private Partnerships or government-to-government framework. 

“We are ready to expedite discussions and conclude on details on the proposed projects for implementation,” he said, even as he assured Chinese investors of the government’s commitment to providing security to everyone. 

On Sunday, Roads and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen held a bilateral meeting with a Chinese delegation led by Deng Li, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“Our discussions were centered on pending projects in the roads and transport sector as discussed yesterday with President Ruto. I am very pleased with the outcome of our engagement as we continue to widen and deepen our mutual relations.” CS Murkommen said on Twitter.

President Ruto’s pronouncement means the end to the protracted negotiations between the Kenyan and French governments on the contracting of the project. 

The project was among the projects left pending by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, which would have seen French firms finance and build the 232km highways from just outside Nairobi in Rironi, Kiambu county, to Mau Summit through Nakuru. 

During a State Visit to France in October 2020, Uhuru witnessed the signing of commercial agreements for the 232km project between the Ministry of Transport, through the KeNHA, and the French VINCI Consortium [Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS].  

Then Transport CS James Macharia said in a statement that the expansion sought to reduce the high levels of congestion, which have often plagued the highway in recent years. 

The project involves widening of a 175km section of A8 highway between Rironi and Mau Summit into a four-lane dual carriageway and future augmentation into a six-lane carriageway to be triggered when traffic volumes increase, according to Rift Valley Highway.  

The other part is the rehabilitation of a 57km section of the existing single carriageway of A8-South highway between Rironi and Naivasha through Mai Mahiu, and the third being the maintenance of the project operation and maintenance for 26-27 years. 

Macharia had indicated at the time that the project, which involved a capital outlay of Sh160 billion, would be implemented under the PPP financing model, whereby the concessionaire would design, finance, build, operate, and maintain the road, and later transfer it back to the Kenyan government. 

Responding to a question at a press briefing at the embassy in Nairobi in September last year, visiting French Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou said it was up to President to make a decision on the project, and that French firms were waiting for Kenya’s go ahead. 

“We have to resume talks but it would be something important and would be nicer for the new administration to speak with the companies. The talks have been slowed by the electoral period, but now we are ready, and all the companies and financiers are waiting to put money into it, but they are waiting for Kenya to resume its part,” Zacharopoulou said. 

She was in Kenya to attend Ruto’s inauguration, and later held talks with the new president at State House Nairobi.  

In February this year, Olivier Becht, the French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness, indicated discussions were ongoing regarding the project. 

“This project should be discussed now. I don’t have any information to deliver now about the project but there is new approach and there will be discussions about this approach during my visit and in the next phase,” he said on the sidelines of the EU-Kenya Business Forum in Nairobi. 

Earlier, during President Ruto’s visit to Paris in January, it was expected the project would feature in his talks with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, as State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said the meeting would discuss the status of key development projects agreed upon by the two states. 

A deal was not reached.  

On Wang’s visit, the former Foreign Affairs minister said China will continue working with Kenya for the two country’s prosperity. 

“China will consider Kenya Government’s priority areas of interest,” he said, as he invited President Ruto to visit Beijing. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Mutua said Wang’s visit is symbolic of the 60 years of bilateral relations, which he noted had allowed for deep and meaningful cooperation on among other priorities, infrastructure development, trade and investment as well as regional peace and security.