Rail system solution to Nairobi’s traffic mess

A Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line cargo engine sails slowly through the Mkupe fly over heading to the port of Mombasa. [Gideon Maundu/Standard]

Members denounced it as shambolic. Employees pronounced it a travesty on the landscape. Everyone was unanimous in their loathing of structures put up in a haphazard manner all over a private members’ club in Nairobi’s Parklands area. That is, until a team of consultants hired to redress the ad hoc building decisions of club chairmen came up with a master plan. A development blue-print was created, designed to be implemented in phases. The result today is a beautiful club-house surrounded by manicured lawns, with adjoining buildings that have the perfect balance between aesthetics and functionality.

Nairobi city seems to be stuck in a wretched purgatory of traffic congestion. The Government has unsuccessfully attempted to fix the problem. The closest to any semblance of order was during the tenure of John Michuki as Transport minister. Even then, his reforms lasted only until he left office, and then the chaos returned. Perhaps therein lies the rub; that efforts to resolve the city’s infernal traffic problems are not anchored on a blue-print.