President William Ruto's administration has terminated a Ksh337 billion agreement with a private company for the construction of the High Grand Falls, which is located on the border of Kitui and Tharaka Nithi Counties.
The High Grand Falls project aimed to boost the country's electricity generation capacity and agricultural irrigation through the construction of an ultra-modern, large-scale multipurpose dam.
The multi-billion-shilling dam was expected to be procured through a privately initiated proposal by a United Kingdom-based infrastructure investment firm.
However, the National Treasury, in its Project Progress and Status Report dated July 5, 2025, has indicated that on July 2, this year, the government approved its termination per Section 43 of the PPP Act.
The project proposal was initially approved in May 2023 for progression to a feasibility study. Subsequently, the feasibility study was conducted, and a report was submitted to the PPP Committee for approval.
Nonetheless, a review of the report by the Committee determined that the feasibility study did not meet several key requirements as per the PPP Act.
As a result, the committee recommended its termination. Despite the termination, the Committee allowed the UK firm to make amendments to its feasibility study for resubmission.
Other key projects that were cancelled include the Ksh464 billion Nairobi–Mombasa expressway project between the Kenya National Highways Authority and Everstrong Capital, a United States-based infrastructure firm.
In its review, the PPP Committee recommended the suspension of the project after the company failed to meet the relevant criteria in its submission of the feasibility study report.
"It was determined that it did not meet the relevant criteria and should be abandoned per Section 43 of the PPP Act. The proposal may, however, be resubmitted to the Committee for a fresh determination," the PPP Committee suggested.
Despite rejecting several privately initiated proposals, the Committee approved the construction of the 175-kilometre Nairobi–Nakuru highway.
In his recent announcement, President Ruto revealed that construction of the highway was expected to commence in August this year and would be presided over by KeNHA.
