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Nairobi gets go-ahead for new $4m transport system to ease movement

Thursday October 08 2015
rail map

The Nairobi Mass Rapid Transit System Map.

Nairobi County is ready to launch an urban transport system after the National Treasury agreed to finance it.

Last month, the acting director-general of public debt management at the Treasury, Jackson Kinyanjui, wrote to Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure accepting the proposal for the allocation of $4 million for the construction of the Mass Rapid Transit System.

The 167km project will see the construction of new roads and railway lines linking the city to several satellite towns.

“Treasury has accepted the implementation of the project. We are looking forward to smooth implementation,” said Mr Kinyanjui in the letter addressed to Transport Pricipal Secretary John Mosonik and copied to Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero.

The MRTS project will be part of the Nairobi master plan that includes the construction of a commuter railway line along Outer Ring, Jogoo, Mombasa, Limuru, Lang’ata, Ngong roads and Waiyaki Way corridors.

Mid last year, the Nairobi county government launched the master plan which integrates all existing master plans to harmonise urban transport, railway, and solid waste management.

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Tom Odongo, Nairobi County Executive in charge of housing, lands and physical planning, said that the master plan identified major deficiencies in the current structure.

“We now have a city with a dominant employment centre and residential areas spreading out [from it]. This means the pattern of movement created brings about inefficiency. The current master plan has caused an unsustainable use of resources through traffic jams and high cost of transport,” Mr Odongo said.

The new master plan proposes radial roads that will replace the interlink roads that dot the city.

“We are going to see transport within the city decentralised as the central business district is congested and is being choked by a clogged outdated master plan,” said Mr. Odongo.

The Nairobi County Roads Taskforce has also proposed changes to the public transport system that will see public service vehicles barred from accessing the city centre. In its proposals, the satellite terminus will be built at Globe Cinema in the city’s north, Nyayo Stadium in the south with another station at Uhuru Park and Ngong Road to the west.

Dedicated bus routes and lanes will be created for the public service vehicles that will be allowed into the city centre.

The project also involves construction of a rapid bus transit system to be used exclusively by special buses, that will charge rates lower than other passenger service vehicles.

The project under the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority will also see the construction of additional special bus lanes from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport road junction to Machakos and another one to Kikuyu through Waiyaki Way.

Two more bus routes will terminate at Bomas and Ruaka towns through Lang’ata and Limuru roads respectively. The master plan also factored in an 8km tram service connecting the Nairobi Railway Station with Ruai, Dagoretti Corner, Westlands, Kasarani and Kayole.

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