Kenya launched a $1.5 billion road expansion project on Friday funded by Chinese firms, including a major state-owned company.
Beijing remains one of Kenya’s top development lenders, with Nairobi owing China about $4.7 billion according to 2025 government data.
Much of that debt stems from the $5 billion Chinese-financed railway connecting Mombasa, Nairobi and Naivasha, Kenya’s costliest post-independence project.
President William Ruto hailed the new two-phase public-private partnership, which will construct more than 170 kilometres of road to bolster links from East and Central Africa to Mombasa’s port.
The China Road and Bridge Corporation will upgrade roughly 139 kilometres of the route under the agreement.
The Shandong Hi-Speed Road and Bridge International Engineering Company will build an additional 94 kilometres.
Officials say the development will ease heavy traffic along the Northern Corridor, which channels 40 percent of Kenya’s port trade toward the region’s interior.
Ruto said Kenya could not rely on the national budget without facing indefinite delays.
He argued that borrowing would deepen the country’s debt burden, while higher taxes would strain already pressured households.
The president has increasingly turned to public-private partnerships to fund major infrastructure as he seeks to stabilise Kenya’s finances.
Kenya, one of East Africa’s largest economies, now holds more than $92.4 billion in debt, equal to around 67 percent of its GDP.
China has repeatedly rejected allegations that it traps vulnerable economies in unsustainable borrowing cycles.
In October, Kenya and China agreed to restructure $3.5 billion of debt into yuan, which officials said would save the country $215 million annually.
The Chinese companies will recoup their investment through toll fees collected under a 30-year concession agreement.