The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development James Macharia has officially gazetted the Nairobi Expressway as a toll road.
In a gazette notice released on Thursday, December 31, the announcement takes effect with immediate effect, although the suspended expressway will be completed in December 2022.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 (2A) of the Public Roads Toll Act, (Cap 407), the dual carriageway with Class A standard that connects the Mlolongo with James Gichuru road along the median strip of the A8 National Road are declared to be Toll Roads with immediate effect," read part of the notice.
The notice confirmed that the toll roads begin from African Inland Church, Mlolongo and it runs in the central reserve all the way to James Gichuru road.
The amount of daily toll charge to be paid was not confirmed though previous reports indicated that motorists would part pay between Ksh100 and Ksh1,600 depending on the type of vehicle.
Furthermore, the Cabinet Secretary previously declared three types of vehicles to be exempted from paying the prescribed tolls.
These designated vehicle classes include Ambulances, police vehicles, and military vehicles.
Road tolls were initially introduced in Kenya in the late 1980s as a form of the government to regain the cost of road construction and maintenance given the huge rise in the number of vehicles.
The Nairobi Expressway is part of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model where private firms, contracted to build and operate the highway, will charge a toll fee to recover their investment before handing over the facility to the government.
The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) previously noted that a Chinese firm, which will build the 27.1 km road linking the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Nairobi-Nakuru highway, will operate the road for 27 years before handing it over to the State.
According to reports, the Chinese firm will earn an estimated Ksh 106.8 billion profit over the stated period.
