President Kenyatta has signed an order that creates Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (NAMATA), a body that will be mandated to provide the city with a world-class and top notch public transport system.
The system will extend coverage areas from Nairobi to Murang’a, Machakos, Kiambu and Kajiado counties.
According to State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu through a statement on Friday, the authority is set to form an integrated public transport strategy dwelling on developing a sustainable urban movement plan that will serve as the core for the “orderly and structured development of the proposed metropolitan area mass-transit system”.
The system will combine both commuter rail and bus rapid-transit.
Mr Esipisu said that stakeholders had been consulted prior to coming up with the plan.
“The establishment rationale of the authority is based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in August 2013 between the national government, through the Ministry of Transport, on one part; and the county governments of Nairobi City, Kiambu, Murang’a, Machakos and Kajiado on the other,” read the statement in part.
The new plan is expected to cost some Sh4.5 billion.