The government has abandoned plans to construct a new Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway and will instead upgrade the existing highway into a four-lane access-controlled toll road.
A Treasury report on project implementation status shows that the government has revised its approach to one of Kenya’s largest infrastructure projects after rejecting a proposal by U.S.-based infrastructure firm Everstrong Capital.
Under the new plan, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) will expand the existing 461-kilometre Nairobi - Mombasa highway and introduce tolling as part of efforts to improve capacity and efficiency along the route.
The National Treasury said the project will adopt designs aimed at reducing disruption to nearby towns, businesses and local access roads during construction.
The revised plan marks a departure from Everstrong Capital’s proposal, which involved building a completely new 440-kilometre expressway connecting Nairobi and Mombasa at an estimated cost of Ksh365 billion.
Everstrong submitted the proposal through the Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP) framework under the Public Private Partnership Act, seeking to develop the new expressway through a partnership with the government.
However, the National Treasury’s PPP Committee rejected the proposal after determining that it did not meet the required evaluation criteria under the PPP Act, 2021.
Following the review, Everstrong was advised to restructure the project by focusing on expanding the existing highway rather than constructing a separate expressway.
The latest Treasury report confirms that the government has adopted the revised approach, effectively replacing the new expressway proposal with an upgrade of the current Nairobi-Mombasa road.
The project is currently listed among those in the early preparation stage, with the scope defined as expanding the existing highway rather than developing a completely new route.
To move the project forward, the Treasury said it has started the process of hiring a Transaction Advisor. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was published on March 10, 2026, and evaluation of submitted bids is ongoing.
Once completed, the expanded highway is expected to ease congestion along Kenya’s busiest transport corridor and improve the movement of goods and passengers between Nairobi and the Port of Mombasa.
The road forms part of the Trans-African Highway network and the Northern Corridor, serving as a key trade route connecting Kenya to landlocked countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The government says the upgrade will strengthen regional trade, support tourism and improve economic integration by creating a more efficient transport link between the coast and the rest of East and Central Africa.