Kenya's recent deal with the United States' Millennium Change Corporation (MCC) to finance the purchase of electric buses for Line 2 of Nairobi's Bus Rapid Transit system has been rejected by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
President William Ruto met MCC CEO Alice Albright in New York on Tuesday to sign the Ksh.8.7 billion ($60 million) contract as part of his ongoing tour of the country.
He said that Kenya's Urban Mobility and Growth Threshold Program would aid the country in reducing traffic congestion in the greater Nairobi area.
Although some officials have hailed the action as a start toward reviving the stalled Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project, many have dubbed it unworkable.
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Sifuna claimed the cost of gasoline does not cause Nairobi's traffic congestion problem; the government shouldn't promote the switch to electric buses using the justification of cost-effectiveness, as she did on Citizen TV's Day Break program on Thursday.
"The fuel has never been the congestion issue. Diesel prices have increased, and even switching to electricity will result in a 63% price increase under the current administration, according to Sifuna.
Because of the total cost implications, he claimed that against the backdrop of challenging economic times, boda boda riders had needed to be faster to adopt electric motorbikes.
"Khalwale has tried to mobilise boda boda operators to switch to electric motorcycles, but they were not interested," Sifuna said in response to Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, who had argued that the BRT system and electric mobility is the solution to congestion.
"Until we do a rapid transport system of these two cities, we will continue to lose money. That is the way to go. It responds to very serious wastage of resources through traffic jams," Khalwale said.
Sifuna, however, believes that to accommodate the BRT buses in large cities, Kenya must first upgrade its infrastructure.
"Infrastructure needs to be organized initially. Which highways are these electric buses being brought to? Booming cities, including Dar es Salaam, have constructed separate routes for the BRT system rather than annexing a lane of an existing highway, as we have done, the senator stated.
"Businesspeople have financed bus purchases with loans, and now you want to increase competition among electric buses, which is not beneficial to Nairobi's residents."
