Kenya's infrastructure boom faces costly maintenance crisis

Over the last two decades, Kenya has invested heavily in roads, railways and other public infrastructure in a bid to transform the economy.

 But while the country has taken to building new assets with fervor, it has been less consistent at maintaining them.

The dilapidated infrastructure is now increasingly becoming difficult to ignore. The signs of neglect range from leaking terminal roofs at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and the Mombasa Road and Uhuru Highway that remain in a deplorable state after construction of the Nairobi Expressway and are prone to flooding whenever it rains to Thika Road that is due for significant resurfacing even as attention shifts to a proposed Thika-Nairobi Expressway.

The neglected projects also include the metre gauge railway, an entire rail network left to deteriorate as the government pursued a new Standard Gauge Railway. This was despite studies that showed the old railway was still viable and only needed a fraction of investment compared to SGR. The neglect is also seen in government offices and public hospitals that have featured in Auditor-General reports for incomplete repairs and delayed maintenance despite budget allocations.

The push for mega projects that has been taking shape over the last two decades is getting a fresh impetus with President William Ruto declaring that he will convert the country into a mega construction site over the coming years.

The President’s push has recently resulted in the creation of the National Infrastructure Fund (NIF) that is expected to crowd in investments of over Sh5 trillion for infrastructure development from private investors over the next decade.

“Kenya is slowly becoming a construction site – the whole country, go anywhere... you will find huge infrastructure development. We are building roads, houses, hostels because that is how you drive the economy of a country,” said President Ruto in May this year, also explaining the enormity of the projects under construction.

“If you look at the contracts that we have signed in that space – roads, all those spaces - it is almost in the region of Sh750 billion. Money that we have raised here at home.”

But even as the government pushes ahead with major new projects, reports by different government entities, including the Auditor General as well as the government entities charged with running and maintaining existing infrastructure, show a picture of a country that is struggling to preserve the infrastructure it has already built.

The growing maintenance challenge comes even as funding for repairs continues to rise owing to expanded roads but also other factors inflation.

In the roads sector, the collections through the Road Maintenance Levy, which is managed by the Kenya Roads Board and used for maintenance of roads, reached Sh119 billion in the year to June 2025. The collections have risen recently following a hike in the Road Maintenance Levy to Sh25 from Sh18 per litre of diesel and super petrol.

The higher collections have seen the government increase the budget for road maintenance to Sh118 billion over the 2026/27 financial year from Sh70 billion in 2024/25 financial year.

But this is way below what is required for maintenance of the country’s network of roads. The Roads Ministry notes that the annual allocations for maintenance of roads are inadequate, saying it will only get less than 50 per cent of what is required over the 2026/27 financial year. The shortfalls have over the years accumulated, with the Ministry data showing that the backlog is at Sh850 billion.

“The State Department of Roads budget for the 2026/27 financial year has an allocation of Sh232 billion against a resource requirement of Sh488 billion results in a budget shortfall of Sh231.8 billion,” said Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, at a recent meeting with the Senate Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing. He explained that the persistent shortfalls are what is pushing the government to look for other financing mechanisms including securitisation of taxes and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to plug to bridge the financing gap.

Due to the inadequate funds to undertake road repairs, different roads have over the years suffered a backlog, which according to the KRB stood at Sh445 billion in 2018 but has since increased to Sh727 billion in 2024 and Sh850 billion last year.

“Due to its inadequacy to meet the maintenance needs of the network, a large number of paved roads – especially under Kerra – have not received intervention including the low volume seal road project, some of which are now in poor condition,” said KRB in a recent report.

“This has seen the maintenance backlog grow from Sh445 billion in 2018 to Sh727 billion (in 2024) according to the Road Sector Investment Plan. The Backlog will continue to grow if no measures are taken to address the funding shortfall.”

The backlog has since increased to Sh850 billion, according to recent disclosures by the Ministry of Transport.

During the meeting with Senators in May, Chirchir noted that such a backlog would need Sh320 billion annually over three years to be fully cleared. However, the Ministry does not anticipate an increase in budgetary allocation over the next five years and as such, the Ministry warned that clearing the backlog could take more than a decade — potentially escalating costs due to inflation, interest accruals and contractor claims if alternative financing mechanisms are not adopted.

“To bridge the financing gap, the Roads Sub-sector is exploring innovative funding models to sustain the growing demand for road infrastructure,” CS Chirchir said.

Other than the works that need significant capital outlay, even the basic and inexpensive aspects of the road networks including road signages and markings have also suffered neglect.

A 2020 performance audit on road furniture by the Auditor General found that Kenya's road agencies had not given sufficient attention to maintaining signages, road markings and other safety features. While possibly the cheapest, these road furniture are also among the most important aspects of roads and protect road users once roads are operational.

The audit found that while the road agencies had policies and standards governing road furniture, implementation was inconsistent and often inadequate. Across roads inspected, auditors identified missing, damaged or poorly maintained road signs, guardrails, road markings, delineators and other safety installations that are essential in guiding motorists and reducing accidents.

The Auditor-General concluded that the three road agencies - Kenha, Kura and Kerra – lacked sufficiently effective systems for routinely inspecting, repairing and replacing damaged road furniture.

"Field inspections revealed instances where road signs had rust and were defaced, faded road markings, damaged guard rails and road signs which had not been replaced. This was despite the fact that some roads had been put under performance based maintenance contracts," the Auditor General said in the performance audit.

"Minimal or lack of maintenance could be attributed to the fact that furniture is not given priority during planning for maintenance. Lack of maintenance of road furniture has direct and indirect costs as neglected road structures and signs may lead to accidents. Additionally, without regular maintenance of road assets, they can rapidly fall into disrepair."

The audit report noted that although Kenya had invested heavily in expanding its road network, the systems for preserving the infrastructure after construction have lagged behind.

The Auditor General also pointed to delayed completion and defective works as among factors that expose road infrastructure to deterioration before it is even commissioned, increasing future maintenance and rehabilitation costs.

Among the roads that that appear to have suffered major neglect is Mombasa road and Uhuru Highway in Nairobi. The road, which is a key artery for the capital and its neighboring counties of Machakos and Kajiado but also part of the Northern Transport Corridor, is seen as having been a victim of the intense construction of the Nairobi Expressway.

During the construction of the Expressway, which has been hailed as a model PPP project and a masterpiece when it comes to safety, Mombasa Road and Uhuru Highway suffered major damages. Motorists have had to contend with flooding whenever it rains on some segments while in other segments, space previously used for non-motorised transport was taken up by the new road.

The government had assured Kenyans that the Expressway contractor CRBC – which is also the operator of the new road – would rehabilitate the lower deck roads to an even better state. This has however taken long to materialise and it is only recently that the government and CRBC have started rehabilitation works.

Peter Murima chairman Motorists Association of Kenya, in a past interview decried the state that the lower deck roads were left in but also the promises that Kenha had made that the old roads would be rehabilitated before commissioning of the expressway.

“The (Mombasa) road itself used to be okay... it could have done with some improvements but what we now have is a road where certain segments were excised to give way to the concrete pillars,” said Murima.

A similar pattern is also seen in different audits and across different infrastructure.

The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has during rainy seasons grabbed the headlines for leaking roofs. But this is among the most notable failures at the airport that also points to years of underinvestment not just in the roof but other amenities.

In auditing local airports, the Auditor-General found that baggage conveyor belts at JKIA's Terminal 1E and Terminal Two had been non-operational for months, despite an active maintenance contract worth Sh81.9 million.

“It was observed that luggage conveyor belts installed at JKIA's Terminal 1E and Terminal Two were not operational for the last three months and one year respectively,” said the Auditor General in an audit of Kenya Airports Authority in the year to June 2025.

“This led to massive inefficiency in airport operations resulting in passenger delays especially during the peak hours,”

“Further, review of the records revealed that although the baggage handling system was not operational, there was a running contract of Sh89.89 million between the Authority and a firm for maintenance and service for the baggage handling system for Terminal 1E and Terminal 2.”

A separate Automated Baggage Handling System installed at Terminal 1A for Sh1.46 billion failed in 2018 and had never functioned optimally. Although the Kenya Airports Authority subsequently entered into maintenance contracts worth Sh274.7 million and later Sh169.9 million, the system remained non-functional during the audit inspection.

The audit also identified worn-out terminal floors patched with steel plates, non-functional escalators, faulty security screening equipment, inadequate air conditioning and insufficient sanitation facilities.

The Auditor-General further noted that Terminal 1E and Terminal 2, originally intended as temporary facilities pending construction of the Greenfield Terminal, had remained in operation for 15 years. The aging facilities had become overstretched, placing growing pressure on ventilation, cooling and sanitation systems.

“Although the temporary buildings were envisaged to be a stopgap measure, it is now 15 years later since the erection of the temporary terminal building... leading to operational pressure on facilities,” said the Auditor General.

The government in early June awarded the China Road and Bridge Corporation a Sh154 billion contract to modernise and expand JKIA. This is expected to deal with the perennial issues that travellers have had to grapple with. CRBC will also put up a new terminal that will increase the airport's passenger handling capacity to 22 million from the current 7.5 million passengers per year.

It is also the case for Wilson Airport as well as the Moi International Airport in Mombasa and the Kisumu and Eldoret Airports.

In the case of Wilson Airport, which is one of the busiest aviation hubs in the region, the Auditor General noted that the facility does not have a functional terminal building.

“It was observed that the terminal building in place could only accommodate approximately 50 passengers at the departures waiting bay. lt was also noted that a corridor was the one being used in place of a proper terminal facility. This poses a risk of overcrowding, operational inefficiencies, and a poor passenger experience especially during peak hours,” reads the audit report, which also noted the inefficiencies experienced by passengers and air operators as only one security scanning machine was operating at the time of the audit.

This, the report said, “limited capacity may lead to significant inefficiencies in passenger processing, especially during peak hours, potentially causing delays and compromising airport operational efficiency.”

Wilson Airport has over the years experienced aviation related incidents because of runways that have not received any major repairs for years. One of the runways is currently being refurbished, although operators based at the airport had raised concerns about the quality of works and delays.