President William Ruto has revealed that the construction of the Bomas of Kenya International Conference Centre will be concluded in April 2026.
Speaking on Thursday, December 11, the Head of State said that the conference centre will begin hosting events one month after its completion.
The facility has already been booked for the first conference, the France Africa Summit, which is expected to happen in May, according to the president.
The president revealed this during the launch of the National Wildlife Census (2025) Report at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC).
"The Bomas of Kenya International Conference has been on our cards as a nation for the last 25 years. I can now confirm to Kenyans that by April next year, we will have the largest conference facility in East and Central Africa right here," Ruto said.
"Whenever I get a few minutes in the evening, I go there to see because it is being built for 24 hours because I have already given a timeline that we must use this facility and begin to make money from that facility from May next year, and it has already been booked.
According to the President, the refurbishing of Bomas to a state-of-the-art conference facility is part of a strategy to replace the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), which he noted no longer meets the standards of a modern conference venue.
In addition to boosting the country's economy, the president is optimistic that the facility will position Nairobi as a leading destination for major conferences in the region.
"This magnificent KICC was built in 1972, and it has taken us 50 years to build another facility because this facility has done us well, but tastes have changed, and conferences need new designs," Ruto said.
The new conference centre, which is currently being built for Ksh31.5 billion, will feature two auditoriums, a banquet hall, hotels and a presidential hall with lounges and VVIP offices, according to architectural designs.
The project, covering more than 323,500 square metres, is being constructed near the intersection of Lang’ata Road and Magadi Road and promises to hold over 10,000 people.
Supporting the main buildings will be a police post and a self-sustaining clinic, which is expected to serve both visitors and the local community throughout the year.
