The Kenya Ports Authority’s decision to spend Sh8.3 billion on just 1.4 kilometers of road inside the Port of Mombasa is not just questionable — it is an outrageous example of fiscal recklessness that squanders public money while ordinary Kenyans struggle with high taxes and poor services.
According to contract details, the project to widen Port Road from Gantry Workshop to Gate No. 18/20 comes at a staggering Sh5.96 billion per kilometer. This makes it one of the most expensive roads ever built in Kenya, dwarfing comparable projects. For context, the Dongo Kundu bypass cost about Sh1.8 billion per km, the Kwa Jomvu–Mariakani Road Sh342 million per km, and the ongoing Rironi–Mau Summit Road averages Sh807 million per km.
KPA justifies the project as creating an expressway to ease traffic flow toward the second terminal. Yet the ballooning costs raise serious red flags about value for money. More than Sh1.6 billion — nearly 20% of the total budget — has been allocated to “contingencies and preliminary items,” classic loopholes often exploited for wastage in government contracts.
The extravagance does not stop there. The contract, awarded to Stecol Corporation and Miliki Development Company, requires the contractors to build luxurious, air-conditioned offices for engineers, complete with graded toilets according to staff seniority, 24-hour electricity, bottled water, and even access roads and parking if needed. It mandates provision of at least 20 latest-model Android phones, comprehensive insurance, and brand-new, high-end vehicles including a 3.0L turbo-diesel seven-seater station wagon, double-cabin pick-ups, and 14-seater vans — all with approved drivers.
These perks, alongside housing allowances for senior staff in high-end hotels or purpose-built houses, are buried in the Sh686.7 million “preliminary and general items” budget. Experts rightly point out that such demands are rare in private sector projects and appear designed to inflate costs rather than deliver infrastructure.
Commercial law practitioner Ndong Evance and anonymous structural engineers have flagged the contract’s vague clauses on variations and contingencies — totaling nearly Sh968 million — as perfect vehicles for hidden waste. Normal road construction in Mombasa, even accounting for challenging soil and geography, should not exceed Sh250 million per kilometer, according to industry professionals.
This project is symptomatic of a deeper malaise in Kenya’s public procurement system. At a time when the government lectures citizens on austerity, raises taxes, and delays county disbursements, state agencies like KPA continue to treat public funds as an endless buffet for luxury and inefficiency.
Kenyan taxpayers deserve better. The Port of Mombasa is a critical national asset that should operate with efficiency and integrity, not serve as a venue for padded contracts and elite comfort. Unless there is full transparency, independent forensic audits, and accountability for those who approved this bloated tender, such scandals will continue to erode public trust and derail genuine development.
The KPA road saga is not merely expensive infrastructure — it is a glaring symbol of how public resources are routinely mismanaged in Kenya. It must not go unchallenged.
