For nearly Five Years, the skeletal remains of abandoned road projects were the most visible sign of Kenya’s stalled infrastructure dream. Half-paved highways, forgotten bridges, and rusting bulldozers told the story of a nation that once promised a leap forward—but tripped over its own financial shoelaces.
But in recent months, the sound of engines, the whir of graders, and the return of high-visibility vests to dusty work sites from Isiolo to Bomet have marked a dramatic comeback. Kenya’s long-stalled road agenda, once frozen by a severe liquidity crisis and verified but unpaid contractor bills amounting to over KSh 175 billion, by December 2024, is now roaring back to life.
“We waited. We pleaded. Some of us shut down and walked away. But now, we’re back,” says Joseph Kamau, managing director of a mid-sized road construction firm in Nakuru. “This isn’t just a job—it’s a resurrection.”
By the end of 2022, when President William Ruto assumed office, the road sector had become emblematic of the country’s fiscal paralysis. A decade of heavy infrastructure borrowing—often driven by politics and poorly sequenced—had left the government unable to pay contractors. Small and medium-sized firms, many of which are locally owned, bore the brunt.
Some projects had stalled as early as 2016. Others were 60–70 per cent complete before funding dried up. In remote counties, bridges led to nowhere, tarmac vanished into gravel, and contractors disappeared under a wave of unpaid bills, loan defaults, and insolvency.
“The government owed us over KSh 400 million,” recalls Zainab Abdi, a civil works subcontractor in Garissa. “We couldn’t pay our workers. Our equipment was repossessed. At one point, I went into hiding from creditors.”
Across the board, construction firms collapsed, employment plummeted, and Kenya’s ambitious infrastructure network—which had once earned it praise as an East African logistics hub—was on the verge of being unstitched.
Conscious of the political cost of abandoned roads and the economic ripple effects of a non-performing infrastructure sector, the Ruto administration set out to address the problem—without adding to Kenya’s already precarious public debt.
The solution came in the form of securitisation. By amending the Kenya Roads Board Act (2019), the government allowed for future revenues from the KSh 7 per litre fuel levy to be packaged and leveraged to pay off current verified contractor claims. In effect, it quickly unlocked over KSh 175 billion to revive stalled road works.
“It’s a creative fiscal instrument that balances immediate need with long-term discipline,” says Treasury Principal Secretary Dr. Chris Kiptoo. “We are clearing what we owe, getting people back to work, and not borrowing to do it.”
Nowhere is this turnaround more evident than along the Rironi–Malaba corridor, a key artery connecting Nairobi to Uganda and the Great Lakes region. The 600-kilometre stretch, once touted as a game-changer for regional trade, had seen construction sputter for years. Today, contractors are back on site, and progress is visible.
In Isiolo, a strategic town in the LAPSSET corridor, the tarmacking of the Isiolo–Mandera road has resumed, promising to bring new life to the pastoralist economy through better access to markets, hospitals, and security services.
In Kisii, work on the long-delayed Ibacho–Suneka road has restarted. “Since the machines came back, our market days have improved,” says Mary Kerubo, a trader in Nyakoe. “When the road is done, it will be easier to transport bananas and milk to Kisumu or even Nairobi.”
And in Bomet and Kericho, critical rural feeder roads—previously impassable in rainy seasons—are now under active reconstruction. Contractors, both foreign and Kenyan, are receiving phased payments, allowing them to hire workers, re-engage suppliers, and rebuild trust.
The return to the roads is not just restoring infrastructure—it’s reviving lives and livelihoods.
“For two years, I survived by selling my construction tools piece by piece,” says Michael Otieno, a former site supervisor in Nyamira. “Now I’m back at work. My kids are back in school. I’ve even been able to rehire three people.”
For many contractors, particularly Kenyan-owned firms, the revival represents not just recovery, but validation. “We could not build—we lacked the cash flow to survive,” says Kamau. “Now, we can complete what we started, and even bid for new work.”
The reactivation of over 500 road projects has led to the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs—site workers, engineers, transporters, food vendors, and hardware suppliers. According to the Ministry of Roads and Transport, at least 25,000 jobs have been restored since the first tranche of payments was disbursed under the new model.
The effects go beyond the construction industry. Economists note that injecting KSh 175 billion into a previously frozen sector has improved liquidity across the broader economy.
“Contractor payments don’t just sit in banks—they circulate rapidly,” says a Nairobi-based economist. “You’re seeing SMEs revived, tax revenue going up, and more money in rural markets. It’s a stimulus, in every sense.”
Banks, which had grown wary of extending credit to government contractors, are slowly reopening their loan books to the sector, offering new working capital lines backed by securitised flows.
Meanwhile, local manufacturers supplying cement, steel, aggregates, and machinery are seeing renewed demand. One such firm, East African Portland Cement, recently reported a 20% increase in domestic sales linked to the road construction rebound.
Once completed, the current network will not only enhance mobility but fundamentally alter the country’s economic geography.
Travel time between Nairobi and Kisumu will be cut by more than 40%. The completion of corridors like Lamu–Garissa–Isiolo and Nairobi–Nakuru–Malaba will cement Kenya’s role as a regional trade gateway. Feeder roads in agriculture-rich counties will drastically reduce post-harvest losses.
“Better roads mean lower costs, faster deliveries, and more reliable supply chains,” says industrialist Jane Wanjiku, who runs a fruit processing factory in Murang’a. “For manufacturers like us, roads are not just infrastructure—they’re productivity enablers.”
While the securitisation model is not without critics—some fear it may mortgage future revenues—the early signs suggest it is working. The Ruto administration’s approach has received cautious praise from multilateral lenders, including the World Bank, which noted in a recent update that Kenya was “navigating fiscal consolidation while maintaining critical infrastructure investment.”
Politically, the return to construction sites offers the President something tangible to show in rural counties, many of which form the backbone of his electoral base.
“We’re not just finishing roads,” said Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen at a recent site visit in Embu. “We’re restoring dignity to communities that were forgotten and rebuilding trust in government.”
After years of paralysis, Kenya is back on the road—literally. What was once a national embarrassment is becoming a symbol of resilience and reform. The tarmac is spreading, the machines are humming, and for many Kenyans, the journey toward shared prosperity is once again underway.
If the pace holds and funding remains disciplined, Kenya’s road network could become its most transformative national asset—a web of opportunity linking village to city, producer to buyer, and vision to reality.
