Kenyan motorists are set to dig deeper into their pockets to meet a new road levy. The motorists will pay up to Sh. 3,000 through their annual car insurance to cover for damages of road assets.
This is according to new amendments to law that have been proposed by the Kenya Roads Board (KRB). The board is seeking to set aside between Sh. 500 and Sh.3,000 from the annual third party covers to be spent on replacement of damaged road infrastructure such as signage, guardrails and streetlights during accidents.
According to a report that appeared in the Business Daily, the amounts will be varied depending on the engine capacity of the car being insured.
This new levy is expected to generate up to Sh. 10 billion every year, which will be remitted to the KRB.
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“It does not necessarily mean motorist will pay more because the amount is already covered in the current third party insurance fees. It will only be set aside to make it easier to access for use in replacing damaged road assets. It is currently costly and time consuming to seek compensation for a damaged road signage for example,” KRB acting managing director Rashid Mohamed said.
The new proposal has already been forwarded to the Insurance Regulatory Authority. However, the proposed amendment has been criticized strongly by insurance providers. “Third party covers a lot other things including the other vehicles on the road, houses, bicycles and the other road assets like street lighting. How will they tell the portion to take out from the premium?” the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) executive director Tom Gichuhi said. The underwriters say that the damaged assets are already covered by the Sh. 18 per litre that motorists pay while buying fuel.
