Kenyan roads officials say plans for the first toll road in sub-Saharan Africa to be built under a public-private partnership have “collapsed” after the prime financier’s “integrity concerns” about a concession partner have led it to back out of the deal, although the challenged partner, the Austrian construction firm of Strabag SE, denies the plan is dead.

Franklin Bett, the Kenyan roads minister, said in a press conference on Feb. 7 that the toll- road plan, “as envisaged through the consortium, has collapsed.”