Kenya’s Cabinet advanced the nation’s ambitious KSh5 trillion roadmap towards becoming a first-world economy on Monday, December 15, 2025, by approving the establishment of both the National Infrastructure Fund and the Sovereign Wealth Fund. These new financial mechanisms aim to underpin Kenya’s long-term development and economic transformation.
The National Infrastructure Fund, sanctioned as a limited liability company, will serve as a primary instrument for aligning the government’s financial resources with its national development priorities. Its strategy involves mobilizing domestic resources, strategically monetizing mature public assets, broadening ownership through capital markets, and deploying national savings.
This approach seeks to attract substantial private sector capital for priority investments, thereby lessening the country’s dependence on borrowing and taxation. All proceeds from privatization will be specifically allocated and invested in public infrastructure projects designed to generate and sustain long-term value.
It is anticipated that every shilling invested through this Fund will attract up to KSh10 from long-term investors, including pension funds, sovereign partners, private equity funds, and development finance institutions.
Concurrently, the Cabinet endorsed the Sovereign Wealth Fund Policy, which outlines a comprehensive framework for the prudent management and investment of revenues derived from mineral and petroleum resources, dividends from public investments, and a portion of privatization proceeds.
This dedicated national fund focuses on inter-generational savings, protecting against external economic shocks, and making strategic investments with commercial returns.
Its implementation is expected to enhance fiscal discipline, bolster national resilience, and support long-term competitiveness. Furthermore, the fund operationalizes Article 201 of the Constitution concerning inter-generational equity and advances the investment-led growth agenda of the Kenya Kwanza Manifesto.
Combined, both the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the National Infrastructure Fund are designed to finance Kenya’s transformation agenda across several key sectors. These include strengthening food security by positioning Kenya as a net-exporting economy, expanding modern transport and logistics to boost productivity and trade, and significantly increasing energy generation to power industrialization and the digital economy.
To enhance food security, the government plans extensive modern irrigation projects, including constructing 50 mega-dams, 200 mini-dams, and over 1,000 micro-dams, to bring an additional 2.5 million acres into agricultural production.
The expansion of transport and logistics infrastructure will involve dualling 2,500 kilometers of highways and tarmacking 28,000 kilometers of roads, extending the Standard Gauge Railway to Malaba, enlarging regional oil pipelines, and modernizing the ports of Mombasa and Lamu, alongside various airports.
These projects aim to improve connectivity across agricultural areas, industries, cities, and regional markets. Powering this expansion requires a substantial increase in energy generation, with plans to add at least 10,000 megawatts of new capacity over the next seven years.
This new capacity will support manufacturing, value addition, digital growth, e-mobility, and emerging technologies, utilizing Kenya’s geothermal, hydro, solar, wind, and nuclear potential. Both funds will operate under professional and independent management, guided by clear governance, transparency, and accountability frameworks.
In further policy developments, the Cabinet approved the National Energy Policy to guide sector reforms, aiming to improve electricity access, reduce reliance on traditional biomass, ensure reliable supply, attract investment, and promote renewable energy and climate-resilient development.
The National Petroleum Policy also received endorsement, updating the 2004 framework to align with the Constitution and recent oil discoveries. This policy seeks to strengthen governance, attract investment, enhance energy security, promote value addition and LPG uptake, improve revenue management, and protect the environment.
Additionally, an innovative financing model for priority transport projects, including the Naivasha-Kisumu Standard Gauge Railway Phase 2B, the SGR link to Uganda, the Nairobi Railway City Central Station, Bus Rapid Transit Lines 2 and 3, commuter rail, and non-motorized transport, was greenlit.
The Cabinet noted the full settlement of all pending bills for certified works and accrued interest in the Ministry of Roads up to December 31, 2024, totaling KSh123 billion. This payment program has reportedly restored contractor confidence and enabled the resumption or acceleration of 875 road contracts since April 2025.
Furthermore, the establishment of the National Integrated Security Command and Control System received approval. This system will modernize public safety infrastructure by replacing the existing platform with an integrated, technology-driven architecture linking security agencies for real-time intelligence sharing and response. Initial deployment will prioritize major urban centers and corridors, including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, and key border counties.
Other approvals included the rollout of Second-Generation Smart Driving Licences through a public–private partnership, integrating smart licences with an instant fines system, a mobile licence wallet, and driver merit and demerit points to enhance road safety.
The Livestock Value Chain Support Project also gained approval, aimed at boosting dairy productivity, reducing post-harvest losses, and improving farmer incomes through strengthening genetics, feeds, fodder production, expanding cold-chain infrastructure, and supporting farmer organizations.
The Cabinet endorsed the National Care Policy, establishing a coordinated framework for the care sector to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment by addressing unpaid care work, improving service coordination, and strengthening accountability.
Finally, Kenya’s hosting of the 4th COMESA–EAC–SADC Tripartite Summit in mid-2026 was briefed, and the operationalization of the Kenya National Convention Bureau was approved to strategically position the country as a leading global destination for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE), reinforcing Kenya’s commitment to regional integration, economic cooperation, and high-value tourism..
