Nairobi to get rid of Khoja bus stage to ease traffic snarl ups

City Hall will soon get rid of Khoja/Old Nation bus stage in a renewed bid to decongest the Central Business District.

This emerged when the Transport Committee tasked the executive to state measures put in place to ease the city’s perennial traffic congestion.

County Transport and Roads chief officer Fredrick Karanja confessed that matatus operating at the bus stage would be assigned a parcel around the Globe Roundabout.

“The plan is to restore sanity on our roads and avert snarl-ups especially from vehicles accessing the city through the Globe Roundabout onto the Khoja/old Nation stage. We will also be create walkways in the streets within the CBD,” promised Karanja.

Vehicles operating from the lower Kabete, Village Market, Thika Road, Muchatha and Banana routes will be affected by the move once implemented.

“The move will be implemented soon and we are currently engaging stake holders on the issue,” added Karanja.

The chief officer further announced that City Hall was targeting to acquire Kenya Railways land located at Ngara to be used as holding grounds for matatus. He urged the county transport committee to initiate talks with the Railway operators in order to fast track the process.

Committee chairman James Mwangi also sought to know whether the county planed to rehabilitate more avenues and link roads in the city, to which Karanja affirmed saying that the matatus from the rehabilitated avenues would not be allowed back.

“Luthuli avenue for instance which was rehabilitated recently will remain a pedestrian walkway and matatus will not be allowed back. Our aim is to ensure that all matatus move out of the CBD,” said Karanja.

This, however, is not the first time City Hall is implementing rapid changes to decongest the city. In November last year, it tried to eject matatus from CBD, but failed.