The total length of roads repaired by the State fell 28 percent to 35,965 kilometres in the year to June 2025, the lowest level in six years, as the government cut allocations for development, including road maintenance.
Road construction and maintenance agencies, for the first time in almost a decade, failed to meet their annual maintenance targets, missing the mark by 5,148 kilometres, which is roughly equivalent to more than circling Kenya’s borders.
The Department for Roads attributed the miss to a reduction in the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) allocations during the year, with the State diverting part of the levy for administrative use and as securitisation for new loans.
“Target [was] not achieved due to reduction in RMLF budget during implementation,” said the Department in its performance assessment report for the year ended June 2025.
In the previous year, the agencies surpassed all targets, repairing 50,094 kilometres against a target of 43,532 kilometres.
Records at the Kenya Roads Board (KRB), which manages the levy, show that allocations to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) were all cut after part of the fund was redirected.
KeNHA, responsible for highways and major roads, recorded the largest reduction, from Sh20.6 billion to Sh16.8 billion, an 18 percent drop, though it was still expected to maintain nearly the same road length.
KeRRA’s allocation fell by Sh1 billion to Sh18.1 billion, while KURA’s fell by Sh2.4 billion to Sh6.6 billion. Kenya Wildlife Service, which maintains roads in game reserves and parks, had its allocation cut by Sh60.8 million to Sh639 million.
These reductions came despite increased consumption of petroleum fuels, on which the levy is charged.
Data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) shows that diesel consumption rose to 2.3 million tonnes from 2.1 million, while super petrol rose to 1.6 million tonnes from 1.4 million, signalling higher potential RMLF collections.
The National Assembly had also removed county governments from the list of RMLF beneficiaries in 2023, citing increased county allocations under equitable revenue sharing, a move that left more funds for the road agencies.
While the courts reinstated counties as beneficiaries of the fund, KRB only sent Sh3.7 billion of the expected Sh10 billion in the year to June 2025.
At the same time, the Roads and Transport Ministry sought amendments to the Kenya Roads Act to allow the Department for Roads to take 1.5 percent of RMLF collections for administrative use, and a further 10 percent for “critical interventions”.
The amendment is under consideration.
Although the government last year raised the levy from Sh18 per litre to Sh25 per litre, KRB securitised the additional Sh7 per litre to raise Sh175 billion for settling pending bills owed to road contractors. Securitisation involves using the expected income from future RMLF payments as security for a loan.
The road agencies also fell sharply below target on rehabilitation works. They face lifted 72 kilometres against a target of 199 kilometres, down from 79 kilometres last year, citing delayed payments to contractors.
Rehabilitation involves a full overhaul of a road and is costlier than routine maintenance, but both are funded through the RMLF paid by motorists and industrial fuel users.
The fall in maintenance and rehabilitation came against the backdrop of an overall cut in development spending in the year to June 2025.
Allocations for road construction, maintenance and rehabilitation fell to Sh193.2 billion from Sh244.9 billion in the 2023/24 financial year.
