The Treasury has advertised for a consultant who will conduct feasibility studies on the tolling project and thereafter help recruit an operator.The consultant will offer the advisory services over a period of one year during which construction on the two key highways is expected to have started, according to the advert in the local dailies.“The transaction adviser will assist the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit and contracting agencies with the competitive procurement of the project sponsor of a tolling operator for Kenya first’s mover toll roads program,” the advert says.The Mombasa-Nairobi and the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit highways —whose construction is at the procurement stage — are some of the major roads that have been earmarked for tolling.Three firms have been shortlisted for the planned construction of the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit section of the highway.Successful concessionaires in both projects will build, maintain, manage and operate the highway while recovering their money from motorists in the form of user fees.Further, there are no plans to provide toll-free alternatives for those who do not want to pay as is global practice.The Roads Annuity Fund created two years ago to provide capital for the development and maintenance of new roads has accumulated Sh20 billion.The government, however, argues that the partnership with private companies, and the tolling programme, is the only feasible way to unlock the Sh380 billion needed to expand and maintain roads every year.

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