Kenya just kicked off a massive road project bankrolled by Chinese companies for about $1.5 billion. President William Ruto was pretty hype about it because the country gets over 170 kilometers of new roads without adding more debt or cranking up taxes. China Road and Bridge Corporation is handling the bigger chunk, while Shandong Hi-Speed is doing the rest.
The whole thing runs on a public-private partnership setup where the Chinese contractors collect tolls for 30 years to get their money back. Kenya already owes China close to $5 billion, and Beijing just agreed to restructure a big portion of that debt. The new highways should help unclog the Northern Corridor route that moves 40 percent of port traffic through Mombasa.
The whole thing runs on a public-private partnership setup where the Chinese contractors collect tolls for 30 years to get their money back. Kenya already owes China close to $5 billion, and Beijing just agreed to restructure a big portion of that debt. The new highways should help unclog the Northern Corridor route that moves 40 percent of port traffic through Mombasa.
