The Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) has continued to throw its weight behind plans to introduce a tolling system on major roads including the Thika Super Highway in Nairobi.
In the latest support of the proposal, KeNHA has argued that tolling will unlock new road projects.
How it help
According to KeNHA, through tolling the authority will be able to rehabilitate and maintain specific roads where motorists will be required to pay to use.
This according to KeNHA will help the country divert all the money collected under the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) towards the building of new road projects.
“In the event of successful tolling, the collected fees will then be used to maintain and rehabilitate the specific road that they are collected from. This could free RMLF to fund new road projects as the tolled roads may not be candidates for the RMLF fund,” KeNHA explained.
The authority explained to Kenyans that the Road Maintenance Levy Fund which is administered by the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) is currently utilised for maintenance of the existing roads.
The levy is collected from litre of fuel bought in the country. In July 2024, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) hiked the levy from Ksh18 per litre to Ksh25 per litre.
KeNHA maintains that if plans to introduce a toll policy is approved, the money collected from the levy would be utilised in funding new road projects.
Roads proposed for tolling
Already, KeNHA has proposed a tolling policy on the Nairobi Southern Bypass, Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Highway, Thika Superhighway, Kenol-Sagana-Marua Road, Mombasa Southern Bypass, and Dongo Kundu Bypass, among others.
The authority, in a statement, said if the policy passes, it will allocate the revenue generated from such road tolls to maintain the same roads.
KeNHA has, however, assured thorough and extensive public participation in the proposed Road Tolling Policy in efforts to ensure all voices are heard.