Expressway motorists warned against paying fees via attendants M-Pesa accounts
Motorists using the newly-opened Nairobi Expressway have been cautioned against paying toll fees via toll attendants’ personal mobile money accounts.
In a statement published on their social media platforms, Moja Expressway, the company manning the expressway, said the toll attendants are not authorized to receive toll fees on their personal M-Pesa accounts.
Earlier on, the company had advised motorists using the expressway that the accepted modes of payment are electronic toll collection (ETC), manual toll collection (MTC) and cash.
Moja Expressway had also explained that the decision to delay M-Pesa payments was it is slower compared to cash payment and would result in traffic congestion at tolling points.
Kenya National Highway Authority deputy director for corporate communication Samwel Kumba said motorists using Electronic Toll Cards on the road will get a five per cent discount every time they load their cards with Sh2,000 points.
But in an interesting turn of events, last week Transport Principal Secretary Paul Mwangi Maringa disclosed that some motorists are using the newly built expressway but refusing to make payment at the exit point on the pretence that they are too broke and don’t have enough money to pay.
This, according to the PS, has compelled the ministry to embark on an ‘aggressive’ campaign to educate Kenyans on how to use the Expressway.
“Cash payments take 45 seconds minimum and at the exits, people claim they don’t have money or enough money,” the PS said.
The 27-kilometer-four lane carriageway built along the median strips of Mombasa Road, Waiyaki Way and Uhuru Highway, was launched on October 2019 and is one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s signature projects.
The dual carriageway 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.