Nairobi Expressway Revenue Hits Ksh3.9 Billion in Six Months as Traffic Builds

When the Nairobi Expressway opened to traffic in 2022, toll charges that ranged from Ksh100 to Ksh425 for different vehicle classes were greeted with outrage by Nairobi motorists accustomed to using the Uhuru Highway for free. Four years on, the revenue figures show that enough Kenyans have decided the time saving is worth the money.

CRBC, the Chinese state company that built and is currently operating the 27-kilometre road under a public-private partnership concession, recorded Ksh3.9 billion in operating revenue in the first six months of 2026 — a figure that puts the project on track to exceed Ksh7 billion for the full year.

Kenya National Highways Authority, which oversees the concession on behalf of the government, confirmed the revenue figures. Under the PPP terms, CRBC retains operating revenues for 30 years before the road transfers back to the Kenyan government. It is this arrangement that critics say amounts to Kenya giving away a premium asset for three decades.

"We built this road with Chinese debt and we are now paying Chinese operators to run it while they pocket the revenue. What exactly does Kenya get?" asked Eldas MP Adan Keynan during a recent parliamentary debate on infrastructure concession contracts.

Government officials counter that without the PPP structure, the expressway would not have been built at all, and that once the concession period ends, Kenya inherits a world-class road asset at no cost. They also point to the economic efficiency gains — reduced traffic congestion on the lower highway saves millions of shillings daily in productivity losses.

Traffic data shows peak-hour usage is now approximately 35,000 vehicles per day on the expressway, compared to fewer than 20,000 in the first year of operations — growth that CRBC attributes to habituation effects and a doubling of upper-middle-class car ownership in Nairobi over the period.