AfDB Wants Kenya to Ban Roadside Truck Parking

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called for the prohibition of roadside parking of heavy commercial vehicles in Kenya, arguing that the activity is mainly to blame for the rising costs of highway maintenance.

Dr Caleb Nyamajeje, AfDB’s executive director for East Africa, urged the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to team up with county governments to impose the ban.

“Trucks should not be allowed to park by roadsides and at other undesignated places because they damage the shoulders of the road,” Dr Nyamajeje said during a tour of the Timboroa-Eldoret road.

AfDB, which financed the rehabilitation of the Timboroa–Eldoret section of the Northern Corridor for Sh5 billion, reckons that illegal parking of trucks and vandalism are the main culprits of road damage.

“[KenHA and NTSA] should incorporate counties and surrounding business community in the fight against vandalism, which is a major challenge along the Northern Corridor,” he added.

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The cost of road maintenance has been rising over the past years, prompting a Sh6 increase in road maintenance levy by the National Treasury in July 2016.

KenHA has recently warned that it will prosecute anyone caught damaging roads, especially individuals who do so by lighting fires during protests and telecom firms that dig up roads for laying cables.

The highway authority received a major boost last month after House Majority Leader Aden Duale tabled a Bill in Parliament, which among other things, seeks to raise road damage fines 20 times to Sh100,000 or a jail term of up to 12 months.

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