Nairobi News

HustleNews

BRT buses in Nairobi to be run by private sector, government says


Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has said that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses to be rolled out in Nairobi by the end of June will be run by the private players.

CS Macharia said that they will have a meeting with Matatu Owners Association (MOA) next week to discuss the way forward in terms of them participating in the project.

“Government does not run business and so we want to involve the private sector to set the ball rolling where we want them to run the business,” said Mr Macharia.

He stated that the first batch of 30 BRT-compliant buses will arrive in Kenya by the end of June at a cost of Sh500 million, money allocated by National Youth Service (NYS), and will be dispatched to the already marked Thika Highway.

PURCHASE OF BUSES

“I sent my PS on Monday to negotiate the transactions for the purchase of the buses in South Africa. If all goes according to plan, the first batch will arrive by the end of June,” he said.

Mr Macharia said that after the arrival of the first batch of the buses, the process will be fast tracked, adding that Nairobi will require 900 buses when BRT is fully operational in all the transport corridors in the city and already the ministry has engaged Isuzu Kenya management to supply the remaining buses.

“We shall be sourcing for the balance from various sources including locally assembled by companies like Isuzu and already we have engaged their management to start preparing for the next batch,” said Macharia.