- Moja Expressway, a subsidiary of China Road and Bridge Corporation, will operate the road for 27 years to recoup the money through toll fees.
- According to Moja company, motorists with On-Board Unit device will not be required to stop at any toll stations.
Image: MERCY MUMO
Motorists intending to use the Nairobi Expressway can now register their vehicles either at Lavington or along Mombasa Road.
Early this week, Moja Expressway Company opened a new service centre at Lavington along Gitanga road.
“We have a new Nairobi Expressway service centre at Lavington along Gitanga road, next to Maria Immaculata Hospital. Please note our Mombasa road office is still open,” reads the notice.
Moja Expressway, a subsidiary of China Road and Bridge Corporation, will operate the road for 27 years to recoup the money through toll fees.
The corporation is responsible for designing, financing and building the expressway, and will maintain and operate it during the concession period.
Once the motorists reach the centres, they have a choice to select the type of service they want: Manual Toll Collection or Electronic Toll Collection.
The MTC will work like a credit card which will be periodically topped up through electronic payments.
For motorists who prefer the MTC, they need to carry their Identification Card, register with a fee of Sh300 then proceed to queue where they will be attended to by a toll attendant and get their Moja card.
All MTC users will be given a pass voucher at the entry point which will be submitted at the toll station before the exit point.
To redeem or add toll points in form of shillings to the card, the users can go the Nairobi Expressway website.
The toll points will be deducted depending on distance travelled and it can be used when driving different vehicles.
Besides that, there is the Electronic Toll Collection service which will offer fast and easy transit through the expressway.
The ETC service holds many benefits, including non-cash payment, saving time, less fuel consumption and discounts.
Motorists who opt for the ETC services will still carry their log books, Identity Cards and also register with Sh300.
From there, an On-Board Unit device, which is a communication device mounted on vehicles, will be installed.
They will then Insert ETC card into OBU so that the car is paired to activate services automatically.
Motorists with the ETC will have a specific lane along the expressway.
According to Moja company, motorists with OBU will not be required to stop at any toll stations.
This is because on the exit lane, the device will be detected and calculated on where one entered along the expressway and where one has exited then the amount deducted.
Motorists will receive an alert via their mobile phones whenever the funds in the ETC or MTC are about to be exhausted.
Last week, the government revised toll rates up for the yet to be commissioned expressway by 16 per cent, meaning that motorists will have to pay more to access the road.
This was done to reflect foreign exchange changes for the dollar-denominated charges, following the weakening of the Kenyan shilling.
The toll rates are set for future adjustments based on not just the prevailing exchange rate, but also changes in the Consumer Price Index.
The Sh88 billion expressway has 11 interchanges at Mlolongo, Standard Gauge Railway, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Eastern Bypass, Southern Bypass, Capital Centre, Haile Selassie Avenue, Museum Hill, Westlands and James Gichuru Road.
The expressway, with 18.2km on the ground and 8.9km elevated, is a class A four-lane dual carriageway with a design speed of 80km per hour.
In the new rates, salon cars using the yet-to-be-commissioned Nairobi Expressway from Mlolongo to the James Gichuru and exiting in Westlands will pay Sh360 from the initial Sh310.
The expressway is expected to be commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
(edited by Amol Awuor)