Talanta Stadium: Government Feeling the Pressure as Ksh7 Billion Payment Deadline Approaches

The government is set to pay close to Ksh7 billion towards the construction of Talanta Stadium, Kenya’s main venue for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

According to Nation, the government is to release Sh6.97 billion this month for the project which is nearing completion.

As per the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, the latest payment will increase the total amount paid to the project's contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), to Sh28.97 billion since construction commenced on March 1, 2024.

The funding details were disclosed in Dr Nyakang’o’s monitoring and evaluation report on Sports Kenya’s budget implementation. At the same time, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has raised concerns over the project's value for money, citing procurement and financing irregularities uncovered during an audit.

The Auditor-General’s review of the Ministry of Defence's 2024/25 financial statements found that the stadium's cost had risen from the Treasury-approved Sh35 billion to Sh45.85 billion, an increase of Sh10.85 billion, prompting questions about the legality of the procurement process.

Talanta Stadium, an ultra-modern 60,000-seater football-only stadium, which is located at Jamhuri Grounds along Nairobi’s Ngong Road, is set to become Kenya's largest sporting facility and is earmarked for key matches, including the final of AFCON 2027, a tournament Kenya will co-host alongside Uganda and Tanzania.

The project is financed through the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund, while the Ministry of Defence is overseeing implementation on behalf of the Ministry of Sports.

Dr Nyakang’o noted that the project's completion schedule has been revised three times. The initial completion target of December 2025 was first extended to March 2026 and later pushed to July 2026.

Despite these delays, she reported that construction had reached 90.44 percent completion and urged the Ministry of Defence to strengthen oversight to ensure the revised timeline is achieved.

“The ministry should address emerging bottlenecks promptly and ensure completion, commissioning, CAF compliance inspections and test events are undertaken within the available timeframe in readiness for Afcon 2027,” she said as quoted by Nation.

Further putting pressure on the government, Ms Gathungu also cautioned that delayed payments to the contractor could further inflate the overall project cost because the contract allows interest charges at three percentage points above the Central Bank of Kenya's prevailing base lending rate on overdue payments.

In addition to the cost increase, the Auditor-General questioned whether the mandatory legal clearance from the Attorney-General was obtained before the contract was awarded. She also noted that auditors were not provided with sufficient information on the project's financing structure, making it difficult to assess whether the expenditure represents value for taxpayers.

According to the audit, the National Treasury approved Sh35 billion in funding for the stadium through the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund, to be repaid over six years, which is “against a contract amount of Sh45.85 billion, resulting in an unsupported price variation of Sh10.85 billion.”