Construction of the Rironi–Mau Summit Road was delayed due to legal issues the government was addressing following the termination of a contract that had been awarded to a French consortium, Treasury CS John Mbadi has said.
Mbadi, speaking on Ramogi FM, announced that the government has embarked on bidding afresh after paying a Ksh6.2 billion contractual obligation settlement that was pending.
The CS said the government risked being prosecuted at a London-based court had it proceeded with the fresh tendering process without settling the termination fees to the French company.
As per the contract, the government could have automatically handed over the road to the French company when it signed the contract, and therefore, a termination had to involve the settling of the claim.
''This is what forced the government to overhaul the whole process and begin again. Yesterday, we released Ksh6.2 billion for the settlement of the abandoned contractual agreement. This had to act quickly because we risked being taken to a London-based court over the same," Mbadi stated.
''The money was paid for the contractor to hand back over the road because, based on the contract agreement, the road was automatically handed over to the company for the construction period. That is why the start of the construction was delayed.''
Mbadi further detailed that motorists would have suffered had the government proceeded with the construction of the road under the initial Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal.
This, according to the CS, was on the modalities of the project, which would have seen the company manage the completed project for a longer duration.
''We must agree that most of these projects do have challenges. If you look at the Rironi Mau Summit highway, it was already given a budgetary allocation, awarded to the French company when the former President Uhuru Kenyatta was in charge. It was to be under PPP; however, looking at the cost, motorists would have been hurt," Mbadi detailed.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Roads has already advertised bids for the new tendering process, with the construction set to begin in July, the CS added.
The agreement for the construction of the 140-kilometre Nairobi–Nakuru–Mau Summit dual carriageway was signed in 2020 by former President Uhuru Kenyatta during his visit to Paris, France.
According to sources, Kenya's decision to end the contract followed the government’s decision to revisit the contract after concerns from the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) officials.
