The project to refurbish the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, system that will connect Thika Road and Nairobi‘s Central Business District (CBD) has received additional funding from the government.
According to media reports, the state has increased funding for the installation of solar and electric vehicle charging centers across the nation in an effort to resurrect the BRT project, which has been inactive for some time.
Additionally, the government will modify electric bus units for the BRT system as a result. The government has installed charging stations in a number of places, including Naivasha, and there are plans to increase their number in all of the nation’s major cities.
The deployment of several charging stations, according to a representative of a local automobile rental company, has made it simpler for Kenyans to adobe electrical vehicles.
The spokesman further stated that the business is spending over Ksh100 million on the importation of cars with solar and electric propulsion.
“As the world grapples with climate change, carbon emissions, low-level motorization and increased congestion, Kenya is poised to shift the paradigm with electric vehicles.
“We expect to have about 2,000 units of electric and solar-powered automobiles here for the Kenyan market in the next 36 months,” the representative stated.
A group of those involved in transportation had argued that the government should introduce incentives to promote the usage of electric vehicles.
At first, a World Bank assessment claimed that Kenya’s BRT system had failed as a result of bad institutional practices, which caused investors to steer clear of the Ksh100 billion project.
“Unregulated competition from paratransit operators (informal buses, minibuses and taxis, etc), the difficulty of finalizing compensation deals and acrimonious relationships between paratransit operators and the government in SSA affect system revenue,” the World Bank report read in part.
The project appeared to be in jeopardy, but Francis Gitau, the acting director general of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Namata), insisted that the BRT project was still in place and would be finished by the end of August. The project was initially scheduled to be finished by the end of February 2022, according to the government.
“We have already embarked on the importation of buses and operational lease for the testing phase,” Gitau previously stated.