President William Ruto has signed a deal with an American firm for the acquisition of electric buses for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Nairobi.
Ruto has secured Ksh 8.7 billion from Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) a US-based foreign aid agency.
Ruto signed the deal on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, United States. Treasury CS Njuguna Ndungu and MCC CEO Alice Albright signed the multibillion deal that will introduce high-capacity buses to reduce traffic congestion.
“This grant from MCC to the Government of Kenya is the largest and one of the most ambitious threshold programs that MCC has ever implemented with a partner country,” MCC CEO Alice Albright said.
The MCC CEO said the funding will help Kenya to attain its urban connectivity and promote economic growth.
She added that the aid will also foster close ties between Kenya and the United States.
''Today's signing ceremony marks an exciting milestone in the growing partnership between Kenya and the United States,” Ruto remarked.
Traffic congestion in Nairobi has been problematic, with successive regimes failing to fully address the issues that cost the economy billions daily.
BRT project that was mooted by the former administration failed to kick off after multiple delays.
''The Government of Kenya is committed to the activities and reforms that make up our Threshold Program, which we jointly designed with MCC,” CS Ndungu noted.
Kenya hopes to increase investment in the transport sector to address some of the challenges facing the country.
“This planned investment will strengthen our transport and land sectors and will generate benefits for the people of Nairobi, as well as for all Kenyans,” the CS remarked.
The Millennial Challenge Corporation is an independent United States Government aid agency that works on reducing poverty around the world by assisting countries in economic growth.
