• “The primary reason for the construction of the expressway was to ease traffic congestion within the city, so that services can be rendered in good time,” she said.
• She said the government should borrow from the pricing model of Norway to make the services more convenient and efficient to users.
Nominated Senator Falhada Iman has urged the state to exempt ambulances and fire engines from levies on the Nairobi expressway.
“The primary reason for the construction of the expressway was to ease traffic congestion within the city, so that services can be rendered in good time,” she said.
Falhada spoke on Tuesday during a plenary session at the Senate.
She said the government should borrow from the pricing model of Norway to make the services more convenient and efficient to users.
Norway has a similar electronic toll system to the expressway however, handicapped drivers, public transport, ambulances, fire engines and outbound traffic are exempted from the levies.
The operating costs are about 10 per cent of the toll revenues. The toll collection uses automatic vehicle identification and there is no need for speed reduction.
“If Kenya can borrow this pricing model. I believe emergency medical service providers will greatly benefit,” Falhada said.
The expressway was officially opened to motorists by President Uhuru Kenyatta last month.
It is expected to boost local employment, ease traffic jams and bring a raft of economic benefits to the notoriously congested city of Nairobi.
Launched in October 2019, the road stretches from the western side of Nairobi, at Nairobi West toll gate and arcs south-eastwards before terminating in Mlolongo.
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 18.2kms on the ground and 8.9km elevation is a class A, four-lane dual carriageway with a design speed of 80 km per hour.
In the new rates, saloon cars using the expressway from Mlolongo to the James Gichuru and exiting in Westland’s will pay Sh360 from the initial Sh310.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)