The Moja Expressway Company has announced that drivers will now be able to pay for the Nairobi Expressway using M-PESA, Safaricom’s mobile money platform. This will make it more convenient for motorists to pay for the expressway as they can do so using their mobile phones without having to carry physical cash. The implementation of this payment option is expected to help reduce congestion at the toll booth and improve the overall experience for drivers using the expressway.
Starting in January 2023, M-Pesa will be accepted as a form of payment at toll booths, according to the CEO of the company, Steve Zhao. This news will likely be well-received by drivers, as the company had previously delayed M-Pesa payments due to concerns about slower processing times causing congestion at toll booths compared to cash payments. However, during the company’s Annual General Meeting on Thursday, Zhao announced that these concerns have been addressed and M-Pesa will now be accepted as a form of payment.
“As a result of recent efforts by the M-Pesa team, M-Pesa will be accepted as a payment option on the Nairobi Expressway starting on January 15, 2023. This means that you will no longer need to carry cash with you,” said CEO Steve Zha.
The Nairobi Expressway is an 89 billion Kenyan shilling (KES) highway that stretches from Mlolongo to the Westlands neighborhood, passing through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the central business district of Nairobi along the way. Along its route, the expressway features 11 interchanges at important locations, including Mlolongo, the Standard Gauge Railway, the JKIA, the Eastern Bypass, Haile Selassie Avenue, the Southern Bypass, Capital Centre, Museum Hill, Westlands, and James Gichuru Road.
In Kenya, many people use mobile money services to pay for various goods and services. However, the Nairobi Expressway, operated by Moja Expressway (a subsidiary of China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC)), previously only accepted cash or electronic cards as payment methods. This posed a problem for motorists who wanted to use mobile money as a payment option and did not want to pay with cash or cards.