Nairobi — A Kenyan government agency plans to offer 150-billion shillings ($1.46bn) of bonds to fund repairs to roads that have suffered from neglect. The Kenya Roads Board is seeking approval from the treasury to begin a July offering of the first tranche of debt. It will be backed by a tax on fuel imports, which provides a steady income, according to executive director Jacob Ruwa. The nation, which has about 161,450km of mostly unpaved roads, needed to spend about 400-billion shillings on long-delayed upgrades and maintenance, Ruwa said. "We decided to go for other funding methods to close this funding gap because it’s difficult to raise the fuel levy further after a 2016 increase," he said. The financing would be directed to roads authorities and county governments to hire contractors for the work. Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy and a major exporter of black tea and cut flowers, wants to overhaul its road network and improve links between its cities. President Uhuru Kenyatt...
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