Kenya's infrastructure funding from AfDB to be restricted to water and transport projects

The African Development Bank (AfDB), a major financier for Kenya, will limit its funding to infrastructure projects focused on transport and water.

This decision is aimed at prioritizing areas that have the highest potential to boost economic productivity.

The upcoming shift, scheduled from this year until 2028, will impact energy projects, as they currently rank third in beneficiaries of the pan-African lender's portfolio for infrastructure funding in Kenya, Business Daily reported.

“The Bank will adopt a different approach to selectivity, narrowing the broad infrastructure projects to only two sectors, namely transport, and water and sanitation, to enhance productivity and competitiveness, noting that water will involve dams and irrigation that support greater agricultural productivity,” AfDB says in a review of its Kenya funding programme.

Benefits of targeted projects

AfDB says the two sectors will greatly boost Kenya’s job creation agenda given the intense human labour needed to complete the projects.

For instance, the institution revealed that transport projects account for 37 per cent of the total funding to Kenya. Hence, the focus on roads will improve transit time for public service vehicles from 40 km/hour in 2022 to 60 km/hour in 2028 and cut transport operating cost from an average of $0.85 (Sh135.06) to $0.50 (Sh79.74) per vehicle/km in the same period.

Similarly, increased funding of water projects would drive water used by industries to 16,000 cubic metres per day in 2028 from 1,500 cubic metres in 2022 while water treatment capacity will increase to 6,000 cubic metres from 1,000 cubic metres in the same period.

AfDB's projects in Kenya

The African Development Bank (AfDB) had a total of 51 ongoing projects in the country as of July last year.

Some of the big projects that AfDB has funded in Kenya include the $111.3 million dialling of the Kenol-Sagana-Marua Road and the Last Mile Electricity Connectivity programme meant to link low-income Kenyans to electricity.

The AfDB is also partly financing the $546.7 million Thwake Dam project to supply Makueni, Machakos and Kitui water and generate electricity.

Cover photo: Kenya's infrastructure funding from AfDB to be restricted to water and transport projects