Why Macharia put brakes on KeNHA’s new roads toll bid

When the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) raised billboards along the Southern Bypass in Nairobi informing motorists of the planned introduction of toll stations on major highways, the news did not go down well with Kenyans.

It implied that motorists would have to pay tax twice — the fuel levy and the tolling fee. However, the Ministry of Transport moved swiftly to cancel the plan, accusing KeNHA of making premature moves by introducing tolling.

Transport secretary James Macharia, who went to the motorists’ rescue with an order stopping KeNHA from executing the plan, spoke to the Business Daily on the policy, operational considerations for road tolls and why Kenya is considering introducing them.

Now that you have stopped the introduction of tolls as it had been planned by KeNHA what is the new date that it likely to start?

We are not ready to introduce the tolling. We will announce the date at an appropriate time in the future. However, we are thinking of creating an alternative by constructing the double decker road on some of the highways, for instance from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Westlands.

Users will not mind to pay even Sh1,000, for example, because it will be very fast.

Those who would not wish to pay tolling fee will have an option of using the old road, which will take them longer but they won’t pay a cent.

In terms of fairness and equity we must make sure that all these things are considered before introducing the charges on the roads that were funded by tax payers.

How far have the plans to construct double decker road gone, now that it has been years since the idea was mooted?

We have gone very far, a month ago Treasury Cabinet secretary Henry Rotich and I met with key donors that included the World Bank and African Development Bank where we agreed that the work should start in the next nine-12 months.

The designs, which will inform the cost, is being done at the moment. The road will be constructed in three phases with the first one running from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the Likoni Road turn off.

Phase two would be implemented on the sections between the Likoni Road turn off to Westlands while the last stage would run from Westlands to Rironi.

Some of the highways that were funded by tax payers, like the Mombasa-Nairobi road, where KeNHA has proposed tolling, have no alternative, how is tolling going to work on these roads, without subjecting motorists to double taxation?

That’s why we have not implemented the policy to make sure those gaps are dealt with. If we had alternatives we would say for certain that we are going to toll those roads, as of now we do not have clear final policy to address this. We shall not rush into introducing the toll until we get it right.

How much do you think it will cost to put up the alternative system for tolling?

That is why the economics of the roads come in, because sometime you may look at the alternative and they will be more expensive than the tolling that you are looking at.

Each road is unique and that is why, for example, Thika Road has old roads on the side that run parallel to the highway, those are the kind of things we are looking at as alternatives, but if the cost of doing new roads is more expensive than the fees we are going to collect, then it makes no sense.

It may reduce the traffic but it does not make economic sense that is why new roads are better because we have old ones on the sides to be used by motorists who do not want to use the new road where they will be charged.

How are you involving ordinary Kenyans in all this conversation of tolling so that at they are satisfied that their views and opinions and needs as Kenyan motorists has been put into consideration? 

We have put a mechanism in place for doing that. We have instructed KeNHA to prepare open forums that will allow Kenyans to give their views openly on what they think is the best way in implementing tolling.

Are there timelines when you are going to start public participation programmes?

It should start in the next one month, but I do not know when it will end because this depends on the feedback that we get, it will all depend with how people will get satisfied with information that we would have given them.

How far has the country moved in regard to attaining direct flights to the US?

We have made a lot of progress in addressing the conditions that were put in place by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). To enhance security, as required of us, we have separated passenger arrival and departure terminals, cleared the flight path and fencing off the airport.

The only key thing that is remaining is the introduction of the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill 2015 to the Parliament, which seeks to give full regulatory powers to the director-general of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority as opposed to the Cabinet secretary as it is currently.

This is a major requirement by the FAA. We will be making a major statement in regard to the direct flights next month even as we hope that by May we should have express flights to the US.

Why is cost of building tunnels on the new line between Nairobi and Malaba  at over Sh63 billion expensive, given it amounts to a fifth of the Sh327 billion to be used on the entire Mombasa- Nairobi section?

The rough terrain is going to make the second phase of construction very expensive because of the many tunnels that will be required in order to connect between the escarpments.

The cost is pegged on the works that will be involved and the distance that it will cover. For instance, the tunnels between Nairobi and Naivasha will cover 23 per cent of the total distance and are estimated to cost Sh18.2 billion ($179 million).

The section will have more than 20 tunnels that will have to cut through the Rift Valley escarpments, making the design work more expensive because it will have to achieve a certain gradient to connect to the next section.

The cost of the tunnels were arrived at after comparisons with other tunnels built in the same terrain in the world. There is no a single tunnel between Mombasa and Nairobi because of a fairly good terrain between the two cities.