Nairobi, April 30 -- An American firm has lost its legal fight to salvage the proposed Sh468 billion Nairobi-Mombasa toll expressway contract after a tribunal upheld the State's decision to cancel the project over the company's financial and technical weaknesses.

The legal battle highlighted China-US rivalry after Kenya cited the American firm's reluctance to work with a Beijing-backed firm as a reason for terminating the mega deal.

Everstrong Capital had moved to the Public Private Partnership Petition Committee seeking to overturn the rejection of its privately initiated proposal to build and operate the 419-kilometre highway, dubbed Usahihi Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway.

But the tribunal dismissed the petition, ruling that the project ...