By LYNET IGADWAH and BRIAN NGUGI
In Summary
- The Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Namata) covers five counties including Nairobi City, Kiambu, Kajiado, Machakos and Murang’a.
- Its creation is consequence of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in August 2013 between the national government through the Ministry of Transport and the five county governments.
- It is designed to address the gap by providing a metropolitan area with a world-class public transport system.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed an executive
order creating an agency whose mandate will be to ease traffic jams in
Nairobi and satellite towns.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Namata)
signed on Friday covers five counties of Nairobi City, Kiambu, Kajiado,
Machakos and Murang’a.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta executed the Executive
Order creating the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority under
the enabling provisions of the State Corporations Act,” State House
spokesman Manoah Esipisu said in statement.
Its creation is consequence of a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) signed in August 2013 between the national
government through the Ministry of Transport and the five county
governments.
The body, as established by the President’s
executive order, is an interim measure pending the enactment of a
statute that will create a fully-fledged Authority with expanded powers
and a broader mandate.
The agency will be tasked with
establishing a mass transport system, commuter services and the public
transport within Nairobi metropolis.
“Namata is a bold and visionary
policy intervention that, for the first time in our nation’s history,
provides a comprehensive and dynamic platform for addressing the
decades-old challenges in the transport sector that have bedevilled the
Metropolitan Area,” said State House spokesperson, Manoah Esipisu in a
statement.
Urban mobility
“The Authority is a consequence
of various presidential interventions and directives issued since 2013
that are geared towards positively redefining our nation’s capital as
well as the wider Metropolitan Area that encompasses four other
counties.”
Mr Esipisu said Namata is expected to address issues of decongesting Nairobi and its environs.
“The Authority will seek to
develop a sustainable integrated public transport strategy based on the
development of a sustainable urban mobility plan that will be the basis
for the orderly and structured development of the proposed Metropolitan
Area mass-transit system, which incorporates both bus rapid-transit and
commuter rail,” he said.
The metropolitan area has
experienced rapid growth over the past three decades but there has not
been commensurate focus on providing sufficient and sustainable
transport options for the area’s visitors and residents.
“Namata is designed to, at long
last, address this gap and provide the Metropolitan Area with a
world-class public transport system,” said the President’s spokesperson.
ligadwah@ke.nationmedia.com, bngugi@ke.nationmedia.com
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