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Kenya to introduce toll roads in 2017

Xinhua, April 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenya plans to introduce toll roads in 2017 in order to improve expansion and level of maintenance of roads in the country, officials said on Friday.

Kenya National Highways Authority (KenHa) Manager of Special Projects Kefa Seda told Xinhua that the procurement process of private investors to manage the road is currently ongoing.

"We have already identified four key roads where users will be charged fee for using the road," Seda said during a media workshop on Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Naivasha.

Seda said that road users will be charged according to how many kilometers of roads that they use. He said that the government will soon roll out a sensitization campaign on the need for toll roads.

"The introduction of tolls might receive initial resistance as the public might not be aware of the benefits of toll roads," he added. The KenHa official said that toll roads will save road users time, fuel and vehicles expenses.

He added that government resources are not enough to finance the expansion and maintenance of a robust road network. The projects will be built and maintained under the PPP framework.

The East African nation put in place regulations to enable PPP projects in 2014.

The road projects to be privatized include the 490 km Nairobi to Mombasa road, 180 km Nairobi to Nakuru highway, Nairobi Southern Bypass and Thika super highway.

The World Bank is providing financial and technical assistance for the feasibility studied to ensure all road toll projects are viable.

National Treasury PPP Advisor Nick Allen said that Kenya has the potential to become a regional hub for toll roads projects in East Africa.

"The other East African states could borrow valuable lessons from Kenya on how to build and maintain world class road network via PPP," Allen said.

He added that through the use of toll roads Kenya will be able to develop game changing infrastructure. He said that by charging road users a fee, Kenya will be able to bridge its infrastructure gap. Endi