Editor's Review

Complaints had been frequent over the unending road carnage on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway, with Ruto now announcing when dualling will begin.

President William Ruto has revealed an oncoming project to dual the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway, which he said will be one of two major assignments he intends to undertake in 2027.

Speaking at an interdenominational church service in Nyamira County Sunday, November 8, Ruto said he would first launch the extension of the Rironi-Mau Summit Road to Malaba.

Dualling of its first phase is under way and is expected to be completed by December this year.

"I intend to extend it from Mau Summit, routing it through Kericho and Kisii, and upgrading it into a dual carriageway," he said.

The Rironi-Mau Summit highway is a critical segment of the Northern Corridor, which links the Port of Mombasa to Nairobi, the Rift Valley, Western Kenya and landlocked countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Construction began after years of delays, with China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) building the section from Rironi to Gilgil and Shandong Hi-Speed Road and Bridge International Engineering handling the stretch from Gilgil to Mau Summit.

Once that is done, Ruto said, he will turn to the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway (A109), a 482-kilometre trade corridor linking the capital to the coastal port city.

"My goal is to complete this section, spanning approximately 230 kilometres, and then move on to the next phase; I also intend to go back to Nairobi and work on the stretch toward Mombasa, which we also want to upgrade into a dual carriageway," Ruto said.

A section of the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway.

Motorists have long called for it to be dualled to reduce frequent road carnage, but the project stalled for years despite early plans to give the construction tender to an American company.

The government has since dropped the US firm Everstrong Capital's proposal for a new motorway and opted to expand the existing highway to four lanes.

Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir had earlier told the Senate that construction would begin once the government finalises its Public-Private Partnership (PPP) assessment report, which he said was at an advanced stage.

Chirchir described the road as a key government priority that has been the subject of extensive consultations and stakeholder engagements.

He said the PPP Directorate and the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) are carrying out a detailed cost evaluation, including an assessment of value for money, equity-to-debt ratios, the concessionaire's financial capacity and the project's expected return on investment.

The Nairobi–Mombasa Highway (A8) serves as the foundational backbone of the Northern Corridor, linking the vital Port of Mombasa to the capital and feeding transit routes across East Africa.

As the region’s busiest trade artery, it carries substantial commercial freight, connecting Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the DRC.

Despite the adjacent Standard Gauge Railway, the two-lane corridor faces chronic heavy-truck congestion, safety risks, and operational bottlenecks, with now the plan to convert it into a modern, multi-lane dual carriageway to lower transit times and regional transport costs.