Road contractors owed billions by the government could start receiving payments from Friday, August 21, as the Roads Ministry moves to clear Ksh139 billion in certified pending bills.
Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir said the payments will target eligible works from the last quarter of the previous financial year and are expected to be completed by August 28.
The government raised the Ksh139 billion through the securitisation of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) to settle certified bills owed to contractors and support ongoing road projects.
The move is expected to ease pressure on contractors who have struggled with cash flow, affecting their ability to pay workers and suppliers and continue with construction works.
Chirchir said the financing was necessary because normal Exchequer allocations have not been enough to cover the cost of ongoing road projects as well as accumulated bills.
“We are not simply clearing yesterday’s pending bills. Our objective is to stop creating tomorrow’s pending bills,” Chirchir said.
The latest intervention comes months after the government announced that it had cleared Ksh177 billion in road contractors’ arrears.
In February, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said some of the outstanding bills dated back to 2020 and had contributed to the stalling of about 6,000 kilometres of road projects across the country.
Contractors were also warned that clearing the arrears would come with greater accountability, including completing projects within agreed timelines and meeting required construction standards.
Chirchir said the government has already received the first tranche of the new financing and expects the next one soon, allowing payments to begin this week.
The programme follows an earlier financing arrangement in which the government leveraged Ksh7 from every litre collected through the Road Maintenance Levy Fund to raise Ksh175 billion.
The funds under that phase were used to settle certified pending bills and eligible interest obligations for road works completed up to March 2026.
Chirchir said contractors will only be paid for claims that have gone through the required measurement, verification and certification process.
“There should be no middlemen and no preferential treatment. If a certificate is properly certified and eligible, it should be processed in accordance with the approved payment framework,” he said.
The CS also urged contractors to remain on construction sites and speed up work while observing the agreed requirements on cost, timelines and quality.
The government expects the latest cash injection to help restart stalled road projects and prevent the accumulation of another large backlog of unpaid bills.
