Senators now want Moja Expressway Company, the firm managing the Nairobi Expressway to allow emergency service providers to use the 27km highway toll-free.

They argue the decision to impose toll charges on emergency service providers is not only unrealistic but exorbitant.

The lawmakers said the management should scrap the fees for the emergency vehicles to enable them to respond effectively to emergencies in a city riddled with traffic gridlocks.

“While the city will reap greatly from the expressway without a doubt, what is of most concern is the toll fees levied upon emergency services such as ambulances and firefighters,” Nominated Senator Falhada Dekow said in a statement to the House on Wednesday.

The Sh73.5 billion expressway was opened to the public mid-last month. It was constructed by China Road and Bridge Corporation under a public-private partnership model.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei reckoned that as much the country celebrates mega infrastructural projects such as the expressway in terms of economic value, policymakers in government should have exempted emergency service from paying tolls fees.