Sakaja to unite road agencies in addressing transport challenges in Nairobi

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has vowed to bring together road agencies in a bid to deal with challenges facing Nairobi's transport sector.

He said solutions to the transport sector which is a menace in the county can be best solved when the road agencies come together.

"I will call a multi-sectoral meeting to find ways in which various government agencies can work together to deal with challenges in the transport sector," Sakaja noted.

Sakaja on  Tuesday hosted KURA Director General Silas Kinoti to discuss ways in which they can enhance partnership to deliver more and better roads for city residents.

Kinoti briefed the Governor on the various projects the road authority is undertaking in the city.

Among them is the construction of an intelligent transport management command Centre that will be based along Mombasa Road near City Cabanas that is funded by the South Korean Government to a tune of Sh16 billion.

Already, the centre's designs and  10 hectares of land for the construction of the building are in place.

The project seeks to ease traffic congestion on key roads. 

The control centre will utilise traffic cameras and censors and harmonise location data to provide a synchronised signal at 100 new junctions in addition to the existing traffic lights.

Cheboi said it will be an integrated building with several floors housing different stakeholders involved in traffic management in the city.

Sakaja further stated that his government in collaboration with Kura will expand the use of technology to manage traffic better, including identifying and fining offenders.

“One of the key pillars of this administration is order and we want to deploy smart technology to ensure order in our transport sector,” Sakaja said.

“It makes no sense to have working traffic lights yet the movement of vehicles is still manually controlled," he added.

In addition, Kura's boss  Kinoti expressed concern about vandalism and theft of road infrastructure and called for better enforcement by the police.

“Vandalism is one of the biggest challenges to road furniture and we need a team that comprises the police, the county government, KURA and other stakeholders to deal with this. Also, motorists who knock down furniture should be identified and action is taken,” he said.