The president who left Kenya on Tuesday evening is expected to seal the deal for the construction of the Sh160 billion toll highway from Nairobi to Mau Summit which is expected to begin in September.
This will among others address traffic congestion on the northern corridor.
The 233-kilometre contract that was awarded to a French consortium made up of Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS last year will see the road expanded into a four-lane dual carriageway through a Public-Private Partnership model. The consortium is expected to design, finance, construct, operate and maintain the express.
The firm will then recoup its finances using the revenues and income generated by the electronic toll collection system along road over a period of 30 years. The project will also involve widening of the existing Rironi- Mai Mahiu–Naivasha road to becoming a seven-metre carriageway with two-metre shoulders on both sides, construction of a four-kilometre elevated highway through Nakuru town, and building and improvement of interchanges along the highway.
International issues such as the crisis in Ethiopia, the Islamist threat in Mozambique and Somalia should be discussed. Especially since France and Kenya are on the Security Council. This Thursday’s visit is in any case important because both countries will hold presidential elections next year. Paris hopes that whatever the outcome, the relationship will continue.