Phase one of the 612-kilometre Lake Victoria Ring Road construction will begin in November 2026, President William Ruto has announced.Speaking during a lake region grassroots meeting in Kisumu on Sunday, September 13, Ruto said the government had already set aside Ksh60 billion for the first phase of the project, which will link five counties.According to the Head of State, the government has set aside Ksh92 billion for road construction and will allocate Ksh60 billion for the phase-one construction of the 612-kilometre road."Besides Ksh92 billion we have for roads, in November we are coming here to break ground for the longest road, the Lake Victoria Ring Road, of which phase one will cost us Ksh60 billion. We are coming to launch it because an agreement has already been made," Ruto stated.The road is expected to begin from Busia, pass through Siaya and Kisumu, extend to Homa Bay, and finally connect to Migori, forming a crucial transport corridor around the Lake Victoria basin.Earlier in the meeting, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said the government had already received the funds from the World Bank and that construction of the road would begin soon.The construction date for the longest road in the region comes months after Ruto promised to allocate funds in the 2026/27 budget for the construction of the highway.According to the president, the project has been long-awaited, and discussions about its enhancement have been ongoing for over 15 years."We have a road that we have been discussing for 15 years. This road is called the Lake Victoria Ring Road and it starts at Busia, passes through Siaya and Kisumu, comes to Homa Bay, and then continues to connect all the way to Migori," Ruto said in March 2026."This road will be constructed this year. We are allocating funds for it this year to ensure that all parts of Kenya are served with proper road infrastructure," he added.The road, which has been in discussion for a while, was first proposed to be funded by support from the World Bank, with an approximate budget of Ksh 41.6 billion in 2016.The budget increased significantly to around Ksh 70 billion due to modern design standards, including a Class B2 highway, and an expanded scope, according to the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA).It will feature a 7-metre-wide carriageway with 2-metre shoulders on both sides, designed to accommodate non-motorised traffic such as pedestrians and bicycles. The project also includes installing fibre-optic cables along the corridor.
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