President Ruto explained that, following the resolution of the dispute, construction of the road began in November 2026 and is now 40 per cent complete.
Kenyans are getting better value for money under the current contract for the construction of the Rironi-Mau Summit road compared to the previous agreement with a French company, President William Ruto has disclosed.
The President explained that the French company was awarded the contract in 2020 but failed to construct a single kilometre of road in six years and instead took the government to court over the project.
He recalled reaching out to French President Emmanuel Macron to help resolve the dispute, which he said threatened to cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars without delivering the road.
“I could clearly see that the matter in court would cost us more money than the negotiation we had. We decided to pay $50 million (Ksh.6.4 billion) and exit the contract court rather than continue with a suit that could cost us possibly between $200 million (Ksh.25.8 billion) and $300 million (Ksh.38.7 billion) and then no road would be built,” he said.
He further noted that the French company did not have the capacity to build the road.
President Ruto explained that, following the resolution of the dispute, construction of the road began in November 2026…
