The announcement came following a revelation that out of 30,000 PSVs within the county, only 12,000 have permits to operate/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 5 – The Nairobi County Government has directed all Public Service Vehicles (PSV) owners to submit their parking permits by Thursday this week to facilitate an audit of the sector.
Speaking after the formation of a committee set up to address PSVs discipline on Tuesday, Nairobi Deputy Governor Jonathan Mueke explained that this will streamline the industry and further ensure that only vehicles with permits operate on the roads.
The announcement came following a revelation that out of 30,000 PSVs within the county, only 12,000 have permits to operate.
“All PSVs will submit copies of their permits to the county for physical verification of authenticity by April 7th 2016. Those who may not have the permits for pick-ups and drop offs, they will just need to apply to us at the county so that we can issue them with permits. This is expected to create equity,” he stated.
He stressed that the audit will regularise PSV operations within the city centre.
“This has been an issue of contention and I just want to reiterated the commitment as the County of Nairobi that we do recognise this sector as a very important sector in our county and we are going to work to ensure that everyone is doing what they are expected,” he said.
“We are not going to be killing anybody’s interests, businesses and that anybody should stop operating their vehicles; we are just saying that we need to know who you are and that you are operating from the required areas.”
He further declared plans to set up new bus termini outside the CBD to reduce congestion.
“We also agreed to develop new public bus termini outside the CBD so that vehicles especially those from upcountry that don’t need to come into the CBD can terminate outside the CBD where other operators can take over the passengers and take them where they need to go,” he stated.
“We thought that order is very important in any city and so we will come up with some sort of self regulatory mechanism to bring back courtesy, obedience to the rule of law within the sector.”
The Deputy Governor was speaking at City Hall following a meeting with transport stakeholders where Matatu Owners Association Chairman Simon Kimutai indicated it will make the sector more organised.
“One thing that I would want to assure my members is that they are not being targeted and they are not being thrown out of business. It is an issue of re-organising the business to be done well in a way that will allow other people to use the areas of loading,” the MOA chairman said.
“No one will be thrown out of the CBD. It is just a matter or re-organising, maybe having two buses in an area rather than having a hundred buses at the same time,” he stated.
He gave the assurance that the operators will ensure that they adhere to the set standards to ensure peace and harmony.
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