By Michelle Ndaga
The Nairobi Expressway recorded a net loss of Sh1.84 billion in the six months to December 2024, despite a major surge in motorists using the toll road, new financial disclosures show.
Moja Expressway, the operator under China Road and Bridge Corporation, reported that toll revenue reached Sh7.16 billion, lifted by a jump in daily traffic to 67,298 vehicles, up from about 11,000 a year earlier. However, the income was outweighed by Sh9 billion in expenses linked to operations and heavy loan servicing costs on the project.
The 27-kilometre expressway, which opened in 2022 under Kenya’s first major public-private partnership (PPP) road financing model, is designed to cut travel time between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Westlands to around 20 minutes. Analysts note that the high foreign-currency financing burden, coupled with economic pressures such as exchange-rate volatility, continues to weigh on the operator’s bottom line.
Despite the loss, long-term forecasts remain optimistic. The concessionaire expects Sh106.8 billion in cumulative profits over the 27-year contract period as vehicle usage continues to expand and toll adjustments kick in over time.
The performance underscores both the strategic value of the expressway in easing congestion and the complex financial risks tied to large-scale PPP infrastructure particularly where debt repayment comes due long before revenue matures.
With traffic still climbing, the coming years will be critical in determining whether the ambitious toll-road model can meet Kenya’s infrastructure and economic expectations.
