Kenyan President William Ruto on Monday, March 9, signed the National Infrastructure Fund into law, describing it as a landmark initiative aimed at accelerating economic growth and reducing reliance on foreign financing.
Speaking in Nairobi, Ruto said mobilising domestic capital would help address development challenges and enable Kenya to finance its transformation independently.
The expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will be the first project funded under the initiative, supported by about 20 billion Kenyan shillings (155 million U.S. dollars) in equity from the fund and domestic institutional investors.
Ruto said the fund aims to bridge the country’s infrastructure financing gap by raising over 5 trillion shillings to support major projects, including 10,000 megawatts of clean energy, 50 mega dams, 200 micro-dams, over 1,000 small dams, 2,500 km of dual carriageways, and 28,000 km of roads. He added that the fund will also support the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway from Naivasha to Malaba near the Uganda border and Kisumu in western Kenya.
The fund will be overseen by an eight-member board comprising four independent directors, three public officers and a chief executive officer, with financing expected from government allocations, private investment, privatisation proceeds, grants and loans.