Moja Expressway Company has announced that motorists using the Nairobi Expressway will soon be able to pay using M-Pesa.
This will come as a relief to many motorists who after the company in May said that the decision to delay M-Pesa payments was because transactions via cash were seen as quick and “M-Pesa payment would result in traffic congestion at tolling points”.
Moja Expressway Company CEO Steve Zhao announced during their Moja Annual General Meeting on Thursday that M-Pesa will be officially available as a payment method.
“We recently put great effort with the M-Pesa team and by January 15, 2023, you not need to carry cash as M-Pesa will officially be availed as a payment option on the Nairobi Expressway,” he said.
Millions of Kenyans use mobile money to pay for the majority of their services, and the delay in including it in the payment options has limited motorists who want to use the road without using cash or cards.
Moja Expressway, a CRBC subsidiary that operates the road, had only accepted cash or electronic cards as payment.
Drivers can register to use a manual payment system or install an automatic payment system, which will allow them to pass through tolling stations faster.
Those who use manual tolling cards must have a national identity card (ID) to register for the card, which costs Sh300 for installation and at least Sh1,000 in points.
Users of electronic tolling cards will be required to produce an ID and the vehicle’s logbook, as well as pay a Sh1,000 installation service charge and a minimum of Sh2,000 to be loaded onto the card.
The expressway is the country’s first major project to be completed through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, and it was officially opened on July 31 by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The road runs from Mlolongo through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Nairobi Central Business District to the Westlands area along Waiyaki Way.
The Sh89 billion highway has 11 interchanges at Mlolongo, Standard Gauge Railway, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Eastern Bypass, Southern Bypass, Capital Centre, Haile Selassie Avenue, Museum Hill, Westlands, and James Gichuru Road.
