21st August 2009

Traffic Management in Nairobi

The City Council of Nairobi unveiled a new set of rules to help manage the traffic flow in and out of Nairobi yesterday and this left many of us wondering, are we retrogressing or moving forward.

Planning seems to have taken a back seat when it comes to looking at how some of these decisions impact on the residents of Nairobi, people whom the Council would strive to serve. I say this because, how do you terminate commuter transport into town so far away? What are the options and where are the options?

For some time now, people who commute into town via Jogoo Road have suffered the incompetence of planning from City Hall and the Central Government. People have suffered both financial and physical stress at the long distances they have to walk to reach their offices.

If the Council was serious, they should have used the impact of the Jogoo Road users’ malady to help address the bigger transport paralysis and congestion that we witness in Nairobi.

Instead of addressing the problem, the Council is instead punishing the residents of Nairobi. The problem is not the commuters; the problem has everything to do with the management of PSV transport in Nairobi.

In my view, PSVs should be allowed to transit through the Central Business District. They should not be allowed to end their journeys in the CBD. All vehicles from say, Dandora, should transit through town to say, Kibera. In the same way, Vehicles from Kawangware should transit town to Kayole.

If this is implemented, as it used to happen before, all vehicles will be on the move and we will have no transport paralysis.

But when the Central Government and the Council become lethargic in addressing the issues, it is the common man that suffers the consequences of their incompetence. And I want to believe that our planners do not suffer any intellectual menopause!

In town planning, the concerns and plight of the residents ought to take centre stage. Think about that mother who is 7 months pregnant alighting at City Stadium, then walks to her work station at Anniversary Towers.

Think of that father who is lame, walks with the help of a stick, alighting at City Stadium and then walking to his work station at Afya Centre.

Think of these people in similar circumstances when it rains and people must jostle and fight for the available transport. Then think of when these people ever received a pay raise.

Let us engage our thinking capacities as we pretend to offer solutions to our problems.

Odhiambo T Oketch

From Talking to Tasking

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From: odhiambo okecth
Date: Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 1:46 AM
Subject: Traffic Management in Nairobi