China cements role as Kenyan development partner with road finance deal

Kenya’s National Treasury made the announcement after the signing of an agreement on 29 November with the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China to finance the first phase of the upgraded Kibwezi-Mutomo-Kitui highway in eastern Kenya.

The highway project means confirmed Chinese support for Kenya’s development agenda now stands at an accumulated 539 billion Kenyan shillings (KES) ($5.2bn), National Treasury cabinet secretary Henry Rotich said. “We thank the government of China for the continued support.”

Rotich said the first phase of the project will cost KES 23bn ($226 million) and include constructing more than 190 kilometres of road. On completion of the project, at a total cost of KES 50bn ($491m), the length of the road will extend to a total of 472km.

Rotich said financing agreements with the Exim bank for the subsequent phases of construction “will be signed in due course”.

“The government is committed to ensuring that construction of this road is done to transform the counties of Makueni, Kitui,” Rotich said. The aim is to eventually link the region to the Garissa-Moyale road between Kenya and Ethiopia, Rotich said.

China has become a key partner for development in Kenya. Last year, the countries agreed to extend their ‘industrialisation partnership’ with a new focus on technology transfer and more Chinese involvement in infrastructure development.

The announcement came after the China Communications Construction Company Ltd signed a deal with Kenya to build the first three berths of Kenya’s Lamu Port to handle general, bulk and container cargo under the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor Project.

A report for the World Bank presented at last year’s Investing in Africa Forum (40-page / 2.70 MB PDF) said China and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) trade had "rapidly intensified since the late 1990s and in 2013 China became SSA's largest export and development partner".

Earlier this year, the bank said Kenya’s economy was set to grow in 2017 boosted by several “key drivers” including a vibrant services sector, enhanced construction and increased public investment in energy and transportation. The bank’s ‘Kenya Economic Update’ (196 MB / 102-page pdf), prepared in consultation with the Kenya Economic Roundtable, said the country’s gross domestic product was projected to grow above 6% in 2017 and 2018.