African Development Bank president begins four-day official visit to Kenya

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Chief Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has began a four-day official visit to Kenya on Tuesday.

Adesina who arrived Tuesday morning in Nairobi, will call on President Uhuru Kenyatta at the start of his official visit to Kenya.

He will also meet other senior government officials including Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury and Planning, Ambassador Ukur Yatani, who is also the African Development Bank Group’s Governor for Kenya.

During his visit, Adesina will tour the Kenol-Sagana-Marua Highway Improvement Project, part of Kenya’s section of the Cape to Cairo trans-Africa highway, which is being upgraded to facilitate intra-Africa trade.

The African Development Bank is co-financing the 84 km Kenyan segment of the highway with €178 million. Other financiers are the Africa Growing Together Fund (€31 million) and the Government of Kenya (€49 million).

The Kenol-Sagana-Marua highway was a single-lane bitumen paved road. It is now being upgraded to a two-lane dual carriageway to ease traffic flow.

The African Development Bank’s Director General for East Africa, Nnenna Nwabufo, said: “The road will reinforce the Kenyan government’s efforts to improve the quality of life of the Kenyan people. It will reduce travel time, expand markets beyond national boundaries and boost rural productivity in the project regions. It will also foster an enabling environment for the private sector and attract foreign direct investments.”

The highway connects Nairobi with major commercial and agriculturally rich towns of central, upper eastern and northern Kenya.

Scheduled for completion in 2024, it will enhance the movement of goods and services and boost trade between counties in central and eastern Kenya and Nairobi.

The highway will facilitate regional integration as it will link the Isiolo–Moyale corridor, which connects Kenya with Ethiopia, as well as the Isiolo–Mandera corridor, which connects Kenya with Somalia.

The African Development Bank is also financing sections of these corridors.

The AfDB chief will also meet with members of the diplomatic corps in Kenya as well as representatives of the Bank’s international development partner countries to discuss opportunities for continued collaboration.

The African Development Bank started operations in Kenya in 1967 and by April 2022, it had committed a total of $6.3 billion to the country, mainly in the energy, transport, agriculture, and social sectors, health, education, water and sanitation and in economic governance.