The Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) has approved a USD3.15 million (Ksh408,586,500) grant to support the preparation of the Mau Summit–Malaba road project.

The approval was made during the MCDF Governing Committee meeting held in Beijing on Tuesday, November 25.

The grant will finance a feasibility study for the upgrade of a 243-kilometre stretch of road between Mau Summit and Malaba town, which is a vital gateway to Uganda, DRC, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.

According to the committee, the study will assess several factors of the projects, including technical viability, resilience to climate and engineering risks, environmental and social safeguards, and tolling affordability.

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"It will also foster a transparent, bankable PPP aligned with International Financial Institution standards and able to mobilise substantial private investment as well as prepare the project’s PPP structure, contract, and tendering documents," MCDF said in a statement.

"The MCDF-supported feasibility study will build on the findings of a pre-feasibility study currently being financed by AIIB and follows the Government of Kenya’s formal request for support to advance the Mau Summit-Malaba road project’s preparation," it added.

The committee affirmed that the project will be critical in enhancing connectivity between landlocked regions of East Africa and the port of Mombasa.

In addition to boosting the economy of the East African region, the committee said that the project will also play a key role in reducing easing traffic congestion, minimising truck idling and carbon emissions, and reducing transport time along the Mau Summit- Malaba route and the Trans-African Highway Network.

The announcement comes days after President William Ruto announced that the dualling of the 170km Rironi-Naivasha-Mau Summit road will commence on November 28, 2025.

The Head of State revealed this after he held a meeting with Zhang Bingman, President of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), whose subsidiary, China Roads and Bridges Corporation (CRBC), on Monday, November 17.

The CRBC will oversee the construction of the project in collaboration with the Shandong Hi-Speed Road and Bridge International Engineering (SDRBI).

“The dualling of the 170km Rironi-Naivasha-Mau Summit road begins on November 28, 2025. This will facilitate movement, boost trade, and end decades of traffic gridlock, congestion, delays, and disastrous road incidents,” Ruto said.