The Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Directorate has rejected the construction of the Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway.
According to the National Treasury’s Project Progress and Status Report dated July 5, 2025, the Usahihi Express project, estimated to cost Ksh468 billion, did not meet key feasibility tests.
The project proposal, approved in December 2023, allowed the project to proceed to the development and feasibility study step, which allowed the Project Development Report (PDR) to be completed and submitted for final approval.
However, after an analysis of the PDR, the PPP on July 2 of this year determined that the report failed to meet the relevant criteria, recommending that it be halted until all the required standards were met.
“The proposal may, however, be resubmitted to the Committee for a fresh determination in line with Section 43 (12) of the PPP Act, 2021,” the status report read in part.
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The project under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), covers the construction of a 419km, 4-lane Nairobi- Mombasa Expressway as a greenfield project.
The Usahihi Express was first conceptualized in 2016 as a flagship infrastructure project under Kenya’s Vision 2030. Its goal is to improve efficiency along one of East Africa’s most critical trade routes by adding two extra lanes to ease congestion.
The expressway, projected to halve travel time between Nairobi and Mombasa from ten hours to five by allowing higher travel speeds of up to 120 km/h, will be divided into three main segments and further broken into ten construction sections, covering regions such as Machakos, Sultan Hamud, and Mariakani.