- It is also proposing that City Hall invests in infrastructures and installation that support and encourage adoption of green mobility like electric bikes and cars.
- The infrastructure includes charging station for the electric locomotives.
The race for greener mobility in Nairobi could pick significant pace shortly if a motion before the city’s assembly is adopted and enforced by the Governor Johnson Sakaja administration.
The motion is calling for a ban on all vehicles and motorbikes that emit fumes and smoke to the environment, from using any of the roads in the capital.
It is also proposing that City Hall invests in infrastructures and installation that support and encourage adoption of green mobility like electric bikes and cars.
The infrastructure includes charging station for the electric locomotives.
“(The city hall to) Imposes a ban on all vehicles and motorbikes emitting pollutants particularly those discharging fumes and smoke to the environment from using all roads in the city,” it reads.
“(The county should) invest in infrastructure that promotes the use of other greener forms of transportation such as bicycles and electric cars across the entire city,” it adds.
The motion is filed by majority whip Moses Ogeto.
Critics have poured water on the practicality of the proposal given the nuanced economic and political factors that underly any sweeping policy change in the city.
Walter Nyakundi, a political analyst in the city told the Star that the proposal is impractical in the near and short term because the uptake of electric cars remains low and does not show any signs of rising on the near future.
“So when you purport to ban people using cars powered by fossil fuel now, how do you deal with the backlash because the electric cars are yet to be sufficient in this market. And even if they were, they are way out of reach of many in terms of their prices,” he said.
“It is largely idealistic and academic (proposal). Green mobility is not even our priority as a city. The focus now should be on improving city cleanliness, inhumane informal housing, improve access to healthcare, lower cost of food and living, deal with traffic congestion etc. It is baffling that people we elect never get our priorities right,” the pundit added.
The MCA justifies his proposal by arguing that according to the United Nations Environment Program, Nairobi city’s air quality breaches all limits set by the World Health Organization.
It also says that “air pollution represents the largest environmental risk to public health in the city. It contributes to the increase in the number of cases of respiratory diseases such as asthma, lung and throat cancer and damage to vital body organs such as blood vessels, liver and kidneys.”
It says that old vehicles and motorbikes with thick fume emissions makes the highest contribution to air pollution in the city, hence the need to make the intervention he is proposing.
“Acknowledging that the city’s air pollution is particularly attributed to emissions from old vehicles, including cars, buses, motorbikes and trucks.”
He says that areas along Landhies Road has been identified as the most polluted area in terms of air quality due to the high number of pollutants emitting vehicles using the road.
The opposition MCA accuses the Sakaja administration of failure “or refused to take any remedial measures to address this public health threat in the city,” hence necessitating the legislative effort.
The motion comes barely weeks after Nairobi hosted the first African Climate Summit earlier in the month in which concern about emission of pollutants that contribute to global warming and climate change in other overall took the centre stage.
The summit was predicated on the science of climate change and that its effects like droughts and excessive flooding needed urgent intervention.