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Elder Lister
Taxpayers to spend Sh24.8bn on Nairobi Expressway
Taxpayers will spend Sh24.8 billion on the Nairobi Expressway, which was essentially sold as a privately funded road.
www.businessdailyafrica.com
Taxpayers will spend Sh24.8 billion on the Nairobi Expressway, which was essentially sold as a privately funded road, the Treasury has disclosed.
The money outlay revealed in the Treasury documents is more than the budget for the Nairobi Southern bypass or Nairobi Western Bypass, which cost taxpayers a total of Sh24.2 billion and Sh24.5 billion respectively.
Motorists are already paying toll fees of as much as Sh417 to use the road and the expenditure is set to raise questions of possible double taxation.
While the government’s financial burden on privately-built projects like the 27.4-kilometre highway is expected to be minimal, the report from the Treasury shows that by end of June last year, it had released a total of Sh5.93 billion for the double-decker road, with the outstanding balance of Sh18.9 billion to be released later.
The Nairobi Expressway, which links Westlands to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), was built by a Chinese contractor on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model at a total cost of Sh88 billion.
Treasury PS Chris Kiptoo did not respond to our queries on the expenditure, which is higher than the Sh15.1 billion that former Transport Cabinet secretary James Macharia said the government had spent Sh15.1 billion on land compensation and transfer of such utilities as water pipes, electric lines and poles and fibre optics.
The Ministry of Water and Sanitation was one of the beneficiaries of an additional budget allocation on the highway.
“I draw your attention that the additional Sh7.76 billion budget to the ministry is meant for relocation of water and sewerage works ahead of the construction of the expressway,” said the then-chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee Kimani Ichung’wah.
The government also set aside Sh9 billion to rehabilitate sections of the old Mombasa Road that were damaged by the contractor.
This scope of work on the old road involves fixing the draining system, erecting a bus rapid transport system on the road, and fixing pedestrian walkways.
The design also provides the erecting modern lighting system and recarpeting of the old road.
The expenditure of Sh24.8 billion is in addition to a contingent liability of the multi-billion project that exposes Kenya’s government to lawsuits should the project abort before the 27 years that the contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation, is expected to recover its investments.
The Nairobi Expressway is one of the several PPP projects for which the government has taken a letter of support covering political risks.
