Sakaja on how he was bulldozed into shelving matatu relocation to Green Park
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has admitted that he was bulldozed into shelving plans to relocate public service vehicles termini from the Central Business District to the Green Park Terminus.
Speaking to Citizen TV Jeff Koinange, Sakaja said his decision was occasioned by undue interference and several failed trials at Green Park. Whenever there such trials, a sea of humanity would trek into the CBD after alighting from the public transport vehicles.
“For long distance vehicles, it looked like it would work. And it was working, until those interferences. And so I said ‘leave that’,” Sakaja said.
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Sakaja has further disclosed that he is now planning to set up a premium hotel and conference facilities on the 5-acres piece of land where Green Park sits and also have an exit from the Expressway ending at this location.
The interference that Sakaja talked about may have been in reference to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua who had strongly opposed the planned relocation of matatus to Green Park.
“I have told the Nairobi Governor that we will have a sitting with him because we are the ones who elected him. I mobilized Kikuyus in Nairobi to vote for him and called him. Any decision that he makes which may affect business in Nairobi, we must first sit and discuss. Hatutaki speedy mingi sana, twende pole pole. Hio maneno ya kutoa matatu, hio haiwezekani. Sitaki tuanze kusumbua wafanyibiashara (We need to go easy on this matter. The planned relocation of matatus from the CBD will not happen. I don’t want us to start bothering business people),” said DP Gachagua.
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At the same time, Governor Sakaja said he was also focusing on reviving the 5 Bus Rapid Transport Line and his team is currently in Paris, France to secure the funds for the first line.
“In most places around the world, an organized city is not about how many people have private cars, it’s about how public transport works. I’ve sat down with the matatu sector and agreed on many things, including them investing in this because it is going to be a bus company. Ultimately, we are exploring the economics of moving from the BRT to a railway city station,” Sakaja said.
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