The Treasury has issued a final ultimatum to American investors behind the proposed Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway, cautioning that the project will be dropped if a revised plan fails to meet benchmarks set by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA).
Everstrong Capital, a US private equity firm, has been granted one last opportunity to salvage the privately initiated project, which was pitched as Africa’s largest public–private partnership. KeNHA reworked the firm’s proposal last year to address key shortcomings and has now made it clear that failure to comply with revised requirements will see the plan scrapped and opened up to other bidders.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said Everstrong had submitted an updated development report, which is currently under assessment to determine whether it satisfies mandatory evaluation criteria. Should it fall short, KeNHA will formally treat the proposal as abandoned and shift the project to the standard competitive procurement process.
The Treasury’s PPP unit had earlier sent the firm back to the drawing board, demanding a fresh Project Development Report to prove the Sh468 billion expressway was commercially viable. The four-lane, 419-kilometre toll road is intended to reduce travel time and transport costs between Nairobi and Mombasa.
However, recent government disclosures show the project has been pushed back to the feasibility study stage after the PPP Committee rejected the previous development report for failing to meet new tests on affordability, public interest and overall viability.
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A Project Development Report outlines a project’s technical, financial and environmental feasibility, including land ownership and the technology to be deployed. Everstrong has been seeking approval to advance the project to the commercial phase and ultimately reach financial close.
The PPP Committee ruled last July that the proposal did not meet statutory requirements, citing uncertainty over land use and insufficient financial capacity. The plan to develop a greenfield expressway, requiring extensive land acquisition along the corridor, was a major sticking point. Estimated land costs of Sh12.9 billion raised concerns that toll charges would become prohibitively high.
Officials warned that passing these costs on to motorists would push tolls to unsustainable levels, with early projections placing charges at Sh12 to Sh13 per kilometre, translating to roughly Sh5,280 for a full Nairobi–Mombasa journey, with even higher rates for heavy commercial vehicles.