Kenyan transport minister has advised motorists to use alternative roads following complaints over increased toll charges on the Expressway in the capital, Nairobi, that came into effect in the new year.
Toll prices for cars and buses on the highway have been hiked by over 38% for some of its most expensive sections.
The raises have been met with public anger for being excessive and imposed without public participation, but minister Kipchumba Murkomen said they were adjusted based on the project agreement.
The Chinese-financed road cost nearly $600m and was intended to make it easier for motorists to cross the city. Parts of the old road runs beneath it and is free to use albeit with notorious traffic jams.
"The adjustment was done based on the Project Agreement taking into account the depreciation of the Kenya Shilling to the US dollar... The consumer has alternative route which is not tolled," Murkomen wrote on X, Formerly Twitter.
The four-lane 27km expressway was opened to road users in August 2022 and its public-private partnership basis was touted as a new funding model for infrastructure development in the country.
A Chinese operator collects toll to recover part of the cost of construction.
The government plans to construct another expressway connecting the capital to the coastal city of Mombasa that will be based on the same funding model.
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