The race to deliver Talanta Sports City for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) has entered another costly phase, with the government preparing to pay Sh6.97 billion to the contractor this month as auditors flag procurement and financing concerns.
The latest disbursement will raise the amount paid for the project to Sh28.97 billion, even as questions grow over its rising cost and whether taxpayers are getting value for money.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o disclosed the planned payment in her monitoring and evaluation report on budget implementation for Sports Kenya, indicating that the funds will push total payments made to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to Sh28.97 billion since construction began on March 1, 2024.
The payment comes against the backdrop of an audit by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu that questioned the project's procurement process, financing model and a Sh10.85 billion increase in the contract cost.
According to the audit of the Ministry of Defence accounts for the 2024/25 financial year, the cost of the stadium increased from the National Treasury-approved Sh35 billion to Sh45.85 billion. The report also raised concerns over whether the procurement process complied with the law.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki during his visit to the Talanta Sports City construction site on July 7,2026.
PHOTO/DPCS.
Talanta Sports City is under construction at Jamhuri Grounds along Ngong Road in Nairobi's Kibra Constituency. Once complete, the 60,000-seat facility will be the country's largest football stadium and is expected to host the opening and final matches of the 2027 Afcon.
The stadium is being financed through the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund, with the Ministry of Defence acting as the contracting authority on behalf of the Ministry of Sports.
Nyakang’o's report shows the completion timeline has been revised three times since construction started. The project was initially expected to be completed in December 2025 before the deadline was moved to March 2026 and later to July 2026.
Despite the changes, construction had reached 90.44 per cent completion at the time of the report.
She urged the Ministry of Defence to strengthen project oversight and ensure the remaining work is completed within the revised schedule.
“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.
The audit has also piled pressure on Defence Principal Secretary Patrick Mariru over concerns surrounding financial management and supervision of the project.
Gathungu warned that delayed payments to the contractor could further increase the project's cost because the contract provides for interest on overdue payments at three percentage points above the Central Bank of Kenya's prevailing base lending rate.
The Auditor-General also questioned whether the mandatory legal clearance from the Attorney-General was obtained before the contract was awarded.
She further noted that auditors were not provided with key details of the project's financing arrangement, making it difficult to establish whether public funds are delivering value for money.
Gathungu said only a special audit would determine whether taxpayers are receiving value for money.
According to the audit, the National Treasury approved Sh35 billion for the project through the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund over a six-year repayment period.
“This is against a contract amount of Sh45.85 billion, resulting in an unsupported price variation of Sh10.85 billion,” the audit report states.
The report notes that the additional Sh10.85 billion is equivalent to the cost of constructing about 9.5 kilometres of the Rironi-Mau Summit dual carriageway, based on the project's estimated cost of Sh1.14 billion per kilometre.
The Controller of Budget's report also shows the project is being financed through Kenya's first Infrastructure Asset-Backed Security, which was listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in July 2025.
The Linzi FinCo 003 Trust raised Sh44.49 billion through a fully subscribed 15-year note maturing in 2040 with a fixed annual coupon of 15.04 per cent.
Repayments will be made through future allocations from the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund, whose main source of revenue is taxes collected from betting and gambling activities.
The financing structure also includes a three-month Debt Service Reserve Account and a standby letter of credit from KCB Bank. While there is no explicit sovereign guarantee, the government has committed to use revenues from the fund to service the debt.
The Ministry of Sports transferred procurement responsibilities, together with Sh2.01 billion, to the Ministry of Defence to oversee implementation of the project.
However, the Auditor-General found that the procurement process did not meet the legal requirements.
“The contract was awarded through direct procurement, which did not meet the requirements for either competitive tendering or direct procurement under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015,” the audit report states.
The report adds that Section 103(2) of the Act only permits direct procurement under limited circumstances and found no evidence that the Talanta Sports City contract met the legal threshold for bypassing competitive procurement.