Kenya: 12.49 Million Motorists Use Nairobi Expressway on High Demand

By Kevin Rotich

Nairobi — The number of vehicles using the Nairobi Expressway has hit 12.49 million as demand among motorists rises.

Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen said the data was as of March 2023.

Preference for the road has been going up as drivers connecting James-Gichuru and Mombasa Roads seek to beat the frequent traffic snarl-ups associated with the old road.

"The total number of vehicles recorded which have used the Expressway from inception until the end of March 2023 was 12,491,403," CS Murkomen said while responding to a question before the National Assembly last week.

Only in February, the operator of the road, Moja Expressway Company CEO Steve Zhao, said that it had collected Sh2 billion in toll fees from the route since its launch in July 2022.

At the moment, motorists have three payment options: the manual toll collection (MTC) card, the electronic toll collection (ETC) service, and cash payment.

Then Zhao said that the firm had successfully piloted the use of M-Pesa and that it was to be rolled out soon.

The Sh87 billion road was launched by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The road has 11 tolling stations, 54 toll plazas, and 54 cameras along the 27-kilometer expressway, with 126 cameras inside the toll plazas.

The dual carriageway consists of 11 interchanges at Mlolongo, Standard Gauge Railway, JKIA, Eastern Bypass, Southern Bypass, Capital Centre, Haile Selassie Avenue, Museum Hill, Westlands, and James Gichuru Road.

This article originally appeared on Capital FM

Photo: Capital FM/PSCU