Senators Question Sh1,112 Toll Plan on Rironi–Mau Summit Road

The Rironi Mau Summit toll plan turns a simple trip into arithmetic. Picture this: you fill your tank in Nairobi, head out to Nakuru for a family funeral, and before you have bought a single soda, the road itself has taken Sh1,112 out of your pocket.

Drive all the way to Mau Summit and back, and you are looking at nearly Sh2,900 in tolls alone. Fuel, tyres and lunch are extra.

That is the arithmetic now landing on the Senate floor.

Senators have opened a fight over the tolling of the Sh200 billion Rironi–Mau Summit highway, questioning both the cost of the road and the 30-year charges motorists will carry to pay for it.

What the Rironi Mau Summit toll will actually cost you

The Kenya National Highways Authority has confirmed two separate tariffs on the corridor:

• Sh8 per kilometre on the Rironi–Gilgil section (about 81km), roughly Sh648.
• Sh8.50 per kilometre on the Gilgil–Nakuru–Mau Summit section (about 94km), roughly Sh800.

For the Nairobi-to-Nakuru run of about 139km, that works out to roughly Sh1,112 one way. Government officials have previously quoted about Sh1,400 for the full 175km Rironi–Mau Summit journey, and the two published tariffs together add up to about Sh1,448.

The same Sh8 rate applies on the Rironi–Mai Mahiu–Naivasha route.

The Senate clash

Marsabit Senator Mohammed Chute put the cost question bluntly, asking why the 175km road is costing about Sh1.14 billion per kilometre under a public-private partnership. He compared it to the Ouagadougou–Bobo-Dioulasso road in Burkina Faso, which he said covers 332km at about Sh46 billion, or roughly Sh139 million per kilometre under government financing.

“Why is the cost so high?” he asked.

Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago pushed back, warning that unverified comparisons could damage public trust in the project. Speaker Amason Kingi directed Chute to table evidence for the Burkina Faso figures or withdraw them.

Who is building it, and for how long

The corridor is split between two concessionaires under 30-year build-operate-transfer arrangements:

• China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) on Rironi–Gilgil and Rironi–Mai Mahiu–Naivasha.
• Shandong Hi-Speed Road and Bridge International on Gilgil–Mau Summit, under a design, build, finance, operate, maintain and transfer model.

The PPP Committee approved the first package in November 2025. KeNHA published the project disclosure notice confirming the Sh8 base tariff on 23 June 2026. Government has targeted completion around 2027.

It is already in court

The Motorists Association of Kenya filed a constitutional petition at the High Court in Nakuru in November 2025. The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) has since moved to suspend the Sh8 per kilometre Rironi Mau Summit toll tariff, arguing motorists already pay through the fuel levy and Road Maintenance Levy Fund, and that there is no viable toll-free alternative.

MAK has gone further, claiming the real cost for a small saloon car could reach about Sh15 per kilometre, or roughly Sh2,625 one way. KeNHA has not confirmed that figure and insists the published tariff stands.

What it means for matatu fares and food prices

Tolls are a per-trip cost. Nobody absorbs them quietly.

A 14-seater doing Nairobi–Nakuru pays the same Sh1,112 a private car pays, at minimum, and heavier vehicle classes are expected to pay more. Spread across passengers, that is real money added to every fare on the route.

The bigger squeeze is freight. The A8 is the Northern Corridor. Maize, potatoes, milk, fuel and transit cargo to Uganda and beyond all move on it. Transporters price tolls into rates, and those rates end up on the shelf in Nairobi — on top of a pump price that only eases if a Strait of Hormuz deal actually feeds through to Kenyan fuel prices. Farm-gate prices are under the same pressure, as the wheat price standoff between Narok farmers and millers shows.

KeNHA’s counter-argument is that a faster, better road cuts fuel burn, vehicle wear and travel time, offsetting part of the toll.

How it compares to the Nairobi Expressway

The Nairobi Expressway runs 27.1km, and a saloon car pays between Sh120 and Sh330 end to end. The Rironi Mau Summit toll tariff of Sh8 to Sh8.50 per kilometre sits within a similar band per kilometre, but the distance is more than six times longer, which is why the trip cost jumps into four figures.

Any exemptions?

The PPP Directorate has said ambulances, military and police vehicles, and local traffic for residents living along the highway will either pay lower tolls or be exempted entirely. Rates will also be reviewed periodically. It all lands while the Treasury is chasing a KSh58 billion World Bank emergency facility to absorb fuel and weather shocks.

KeNHA acting Director General Eng. Luka Kimeli has pledged that tolling will follow “principles of fairness, affordability, and transparency,” and that alternative routes from Rironi to Mau Summit will be mapped where feasible.

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Would you pay Sh1,112 to get to Nakuru faster, or take the old road and save the money? Tell us in the comments below.

Sources: Kenyans.co.ke, The Star, Citizen Digital, Daily Nation, The Standard, Tuko.co.ke, The Kenya Times, allAfrica, KeNHA project disclosure notice.