President William Ruto has said Kenya saved close to Ksh 60 billion for the cancellation of the contract for construction of the Rironi—Mau Summit Road which had been awarded to a French firm six years ago.
Speaking in Mombasa during the Kenya Comprehensive School Heads Association Conference, President Ruto said Kenya negotiated for the exit of the contract awarded to by Rift Valley Connect which cost taxpayers Ksh 6.5 billion.
“We reached out to the company and we negotiated and we exited because I could see clearly that the matter that the matter that was in court would cost us more money than the negotiations so we decided to pay $50M to exit because I could see clearly that a matter that has gone to court was going to cost us possibly $200-300 million and that no road would be built,” said Ruto.
According to President Ruto, despite the consortium which included Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, Vinci Highways SAS and Vinci Concessions SAS being awarded the contract in 2020 by the previous administration, works had not begun owing to a court case.
President Ruto has further defended the new cost of implementing the project which is being undertaken by China Road and Bridge Corporation and is currently 40% complete.
