How the expressway has changed Nairobi’s skyline

The Nairobi Expressway is fast transforming the capital’s landscape.

Expected to be completed later this month, the multibillion project is expected to ease travel woes by halving the travel time.

The government and experts say the Sh62 billion expressway project will define the city differently.

The project is carefully being woven into the existing infrastructure.

But even as that happens, issues surrounding the project are being raised by the experts.

“The expressway will define the city of Nairobi in ways that we never thought of before," Alfred Omenya, an architect, said.

"It could provide a home for street families, shelter for hawkers, canvas for graffiti, home for thugs, river for the Nairobi sewage. [That means] it has to be managed well to avoid dystopia.”

Town and County Planners Associations chairman Mairura Omwenga has also raised similar issues as raised by Omenya.

Omwenga said the road below the expressway is likely to be flooded as vegetation that ensured water infiltrate has been cleared.

“There is need for adequate drainage,” he said.

Omwenga said there is a need for urban control to ensure that spaces left below the expressway are not turned into shelters for street children.

He said there is a need to have green spaces following the massive tree felling that happened to pave way for the project.

Integrating the Expressway with the existing facilities is a major component of project implementation.

The project for Nairobi residents come as a reprieve as getting stuck in one of Nairobi's nightmare traffic jams is a reality that city dwellers have learnt to live with.

The reprieve will however come with some cost.

The Transport ministry on December 31, 2020, published a notice in the Kenya Gazette designating the project as a toll road.

It also set the rates to be charged for using the stretch.

Users will pay between Sh100 and Sh1,500.

The estimated toll per kilometre of the 27.1-km road is Sh11.50.

The toll ranges between Sh6 and Sh30 per kilometre depending on the size of the vehicle.

The charges will depend on the type of vehicle and entry and exit points.

Motorists on light vehicles with two axles will pay Sh100 to Sh300, depending on entry and exit points.

Those on light vehicles with two axles and a high bonnet will pay Sh150 to Sh450, also depending on entry and exit points.

A motorist driving on the expressway from AIC Mlolongo to the Standard Gauge Railway, Syokimau, or Eastern Bypass will part with Sh160.

Drivers with heavy vehicles with fewer than four axles will pay Sh400 to Sh1,200.

Those with heavy vehicles with more than four axles will pay Sh500 to Sh1,500, depending on entry and exit points.

Some vehicles are however exempted from paying toll fees.

These are ambulances, police vehicles, military vehicles, and others to be specified by the Ministry.

Boda bodas and tuk-tuks will be banned from using the road.

The road project will be opened next year in March after completing the supporting infrastructure, which includes lighting and the tolling stations.

The Transport ministry will start conducting test runs in March next year after which President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to commission it in April.

Initially, construction was to take three years.

It was however fast-tracked by the government.

Traffic snarl-ups in the Nairobi metropolis are estimated to cost the country Sh2 billion annually.

Sections of the Expressway will have eight, six, and four lanes based on traffic projections.

There will be a four-lane dual carriageway from Mlolongo to the Eastern Bypass and a six-lane dual carriageway from the Eastern Bypass to the Southern Bypass.

There will be a four-lane dual carriageway from the Southern Bypass to St Mark's Church in Westlands and a four-lane dual carriageway from St Mark's Church to James Gichuru Road.

Initially, travelling from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the city using the stretch took more than two hours.

It will however take between 15 and 20 minutes to cover the 27-kilometre stretch which starts from AIC, Mlolongo, all the way to James Gichuru on Waiyaki way with the completion of the project.

The project is being undertaken through the Build Operate Transfer contract, meaning that CRBC will build and operate the expressway for 27 years to recoup the money it has spent to put it up.

CRBC is set to pocket Sh106.8 billion as profit for the 27 years. After 27 years, CRBC will hand over the project to the government.

The project remains one of the largest Build Operate Transfer project in Eastern and Central Africa.

The government opted to finance the project through BOT as it could not raise such a huge sum for the project.

The Expressway will have nine stations.

Interchanges will be built at Mlolongo, Syokimau, JKIA, Eastern Bypass, Southern Bypass, Capital Centre, Haile Selassie, Museum Hill, Westlands, and the Mainline station at the endpoint—St Mark's/Lion Place.

There will be a roundabout at the junction of Enterprise Road and Mombasa Road, and another at the junction of James Gichuru and Red Hill Link Road.

The project will have four pedestrian footbridges at Mlolongo, Imara Daima, General Motors and St Mark's.

(edited by Amol Awuor)