Mau Summit–Malaba dual toll road passes pre-feasibility study

A planned 243-kilometre dual carriageway between Mau Summit and Malaba has passed its first technical test, Business Daily reported on 2 October 2026. A pre-feasibility study by Canadian firm CPCS and Kenya's Avatech Engineering concluded that the project can be built inside Kenya's existing road corridor.

The plan would upgrade the existing two-lane highway to a four-lane, access-controlled toll road on the Northern Corridor, a key trade route linking western Kenya and Uganda. Malaba, in Busia County, is a border town on the Uganda border.

"Our findings were that it is a suitable project," Paul Kambalame, principal consultant at CPCS, was quoted as saying. "It is technically viable because it falls within Kenya's existing road right of way." He added that the environmental and social impact is expected to be "very minimal", with no need for significant resettlement or for the road to pass through environmentally sensitive areas, according to Business Daily.

What happens next

The study did not settle the hard questions. A detailed feasibility study will establish the final cost, traffic projections, tolling potential and the structure of the public-private partnership (PPP), Business Daily reported.

In an earlier report on 27 July 2026, Business Daily said the National Treasury's PPP directorate expected the main feasibility study to start in the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year. It said the pre-feasibility work was completed in May 2026 and funded by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

An earlier Capital FM report on the plan, published on 5 February 2026, said a private partner would design, finance, build, operate and maintain the road. It listed a Request for Qualifications in the third quarter of 2026, Request for Proposals in the first quarter of 2027 and commercial close in the second quarter of 2027. The 2 October report does not say whether that schedule still stands.

Why the corridor matters

Business Daily's July report said major road corridors, including the Northern Corridor, are increasingly congested. It cited earlier Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) data showing that 24 per cent of Northern Corridor roads were in deplorable condition by 2018, forcing transporters to spend more than 100 hours travelling from Mombasa to Malaba, against a target of 78 hours.

Capital FM describes the Northern Corridor as a key regional trade route linking Kenya to Uganda and the wider East and Central African region.

The road upstream

The Mau Summit–Malaba project is meant to complement the Rironi–Mau Summit dual highway, which is already under construction. Business Daily puts that project at KSh 170 billion (about US$1.3 billion at the Central Bank of Kenya's 2 October 2026 rate of KSh 129.76 to the dollar) and 236 kilometres, and says China Road and Bridge Corporation and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) are building it.

Another outlet gives different figures. Kenya Engineer, in an 11 September 2026 article, gave the length as 233 kilometres and the cost as about KSh 192.6 billion, citing the National Treasury in April 2026. It said China Road and Bridge Corporation and the NSSF are building sections totalling about 139 kilometres, while Shandong Hi-Speed Road and Bridge International Engineering is building a separate 94-kilometre section. It reported progress in July 2026 of about 15 per cent on the China Road and Bridge section and about 10 per cent on the Shandong section.

Kenya Engineer also reported toll rates of KSh 8 per kilometre on the China Road and Bridge/NSSF sections and KSh 8.50 per kilometre on the Shandong section, on a concession of roughly 30 years, including construction and operation. These figures are for the upstream road; no toll rates have been set for the Mau Summit–Malaba section, whose tolling potential is still to be studied.

What to watch

The pre-feasibility study does not name any builder or investor for the Mau Summit–Malaba section, and none of the reports cited here says a Chinese firm is involved in it. Whether it follows the Rironi–Mau Summit model, with private financing recovered through tolls, will depend on the feasibility study and the PPP structure.

For transporters and motorists the main questions are how much the tolls will be, whether an alternative untolled route remains, and when construction could begin. None of the reports cited here answers these questions.