President Uhuru Kenyatta takes 3rd trip out of the country in 1 month

President Uhuru Kenyatta has flown out of the country for the third time this month.

The President left for Paris, France on Tuesday evening for an official two-day visit.

He arrived in France and is expected to close the deal on a road construction project while there.

President Kenyatta will be negotiating the final details on the construction of the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit highway which will cost an estimated Sh160 billion.

Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia had earlier in the month announced that the construction works were scheduled to begin in September.

A consortium of French companies (Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS) was awarded the contract to construct the 233-kilometer toll highway.

The group will be responsible for designing, financing the construction, actualizing the project, operationalization of the toll road system and maintenance of the expressway.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 4, 2016. Reuters

Uhuru's trips out of the country

This will be the President's third trip out of the country in the month of June 2021.

He took a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on June 8th where he witnessed the issuance of a telecommunications license to a telco consortium which included Safaricom PLC.

The telcos - Safaricom, Vodafone and Vodacom, UK’s CDC Group and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation - won a Sh91.8 billion bid to operate in Ethiopia.

"There are risks that we need to consider as part of the overall investment but we need to look at Ethiopia as a long-term investment. In Ethiopia, we see a huge population, extremely favourable demographics and a country that is keen on advancing.

"It is true that there are liquidity challenges and currency fluctuation in Ethiopia. The government has been clear that it is undertaking a process of economic liberalization, which includes the foreign exchange market. By 2023, the government believes foreign exchange will be largely liberalized," Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa stated in a recent interview with Business Daily.