National Treasury Targets KSh42.26bn Toll Concessions for Nairobi Southern and Mombasa Northern Bypasses

The National Treasury has announced plans to secure KSh42.26 billion in toll-road concession deals for the Nairobi Southern Bypass and the planned Mombasa Northern Bypass.

The completed Nairobi Southern Bypass is slated for a KSh12.265 billion operations, maintenance and tolling concession under a user-pay model that charges motorists rather than using general tax revenue.

The proposed Mombasa Northern Bypass carries an investment value of KSh30 billion and will be financed through a user-tolls and viability gap funding (VGF) model that blends government grants with private capital, with private investors recouping costs via tolls.

The Treasury said a Kenya National Highways Authority proposal to introduce tolls on the Southern Bypass is awaiting approval.

The Southern Bypass stretches 28.6 kilometres and links Nairobi and Kiambu counties through the Langata and Kikuyu suburbs.

The Mombasa Northern Bypass is a planned 38.6-kilometre project that will consist of a 27.1-kilometre main section connecting the Mombasa–Nairobi Highway at Miritini to the Mombasa–Malindi Road at Kwa Kadzengo, Mtwapa, and an 11.5-kilometre Bamburi Link Road joining the bypass to the A7 at Bamburi.

The new concessions would add to the toll-road user charges on the 27-kilometre Nairobi Expressway, where motorists currently pay between KSh170 and KSh500 depending on distance travelled and vehicle category.

The government is also pursuing tolling proposals for other major routes, including the Dongo Kundu Bypass in Mombasa, to recover infrastructure costs, sustain completed assets and mobilise resources for new projects.

The Treasury has estimated a road-infrastructure funding deficit of KSh1.5 trillion over five years and KSh4 trillion over a decade.

In March 2026 the Treasury published a draft tolling policy to create a framework for collecting road-user charges, supplementing existing financing mechanisms such as the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund, which is funded by a KSh25 charge on every litre of petrol and diesel.

Nairobi also hosts a 21-kilometre Northern Bypass ring road linking Ruaka on Limuru Road to Ruiru on Thika Road, and a Western Bypass four-lane dual carriageway that connects the Southern Bypass at Gitaru to the Northern Bypass at Ruaka, passing through Wangige, Kihara and Ndenderu as the final ring road to decongest the city.