Nairobi Expressway provides an ideal model for the government to execute a new plan to toll major highways in the country, Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen said yesterday.

He said the 27.1km Class A dual-carriageway road offers a template that can be used to expand and toll the earmarked highways.

“The template is there with what we did with the Expressway.

“What is remaining to do now is to improve this model and provide a road network that’s sustainable in terms of financial management but also one that’s affordable for Kenyans,” Murkomen noted, stating that the government is keen on dualling, expanding and tolling the northern corridor from Mombasa to Malaba. Construction on the road kicked off in 2019 and was delivered in 2022.

The expressway was developed as the first Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer Public Private Partnership (DBFOT- PPP) Model.

Identified as a strategic priority project by the Government, the Nairobi Expressway is aimed at easing traffic and provides a seamless access to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and its environs.

“We have to devote ourselves to do so, but we must also look for strategic business partners who are willing to take responsibility and complete the works on time,” said the CS.

However, Murkomen passed the matter to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to expedite the process.

“It’s up to KeNHA to think through to help us achieve the kind of road network that we need,” he said referring to a new KeNHA Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

He listed several roads that are earmarked for expansion and tolling including the Athi River to Namanga; Galleria-Ngong-Rongai, and back to Karen Shopping Centre; Kiambu Road. Eventually, Murkomen said that after the northern corridor has been tolled there will be no option but to toll Corridor C, Museum Hill to Moyale and Corridor D, Sirare to North Rift.

“And the only way to do this is to have a sustainable Fund, since it’s not possible under the Road Maintenance Levy to continue doing this, so tolling and dualling is inevitable,” he said.

The Cs argued that although there are alternatives for the feeder roads, but for the main highways, the country has no option but to have them tolled and dualled. However, he said that to dual and toll the selected key highways, the financial investments that were pumped into the Expressway would have to be scaled down, to reduce the cost, to achieve the overall goal.