Nairobi News

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s intention to review zoning in Nairobi County has drawn criticism from urban planners and experts.

According to Governor Sakaja, the amendment to review the Town Planning Plan is underway in the County Assembly, a proposal that will see a zoning framework that goes up to 75 storeys in some areas.

His roadside declaration attracted the attention of over 20 organisations in Nairobi County, who called on the Nairobi leadership to respect the physical and land use development plans of the national county administration.

The Governor was urged to prioritise improving the living standards of Nairobi residents by ensuring that they have access to clean water, sanitation and accessible roads before thinking of increasing heights.

In a joint statement, the associations said that improving the lives of residents should be based on existing policies and plans and that there are a myriad of denser and more populous cities that operate more efficiently than Nairobi, with the quality of life we all aspire to due to well thought out urban planning and design.

“The recent floods, gas explosions in residential areas, burst sewers, worsening traffic congestion, limited to no water supply, constant power cuts and rampant insecurity in Nairobi are clear indicators of the dire consequences of unplanned and haphazard development. Proper planning is the only solution to the chaos we are currently witnessing in Nairobi,” said a statement read by the President of the Architectural Association of Kenya, Ms Florence Nyole.

The professionals said they were not against development, as they have been nicknamed by county officials, but rather against environmental terrorism, where approvals in the city are no longer based on standards.

According to Patrick Adolwa, an urban planner and urban specialist, Governor Sakaja’s assertion that more houses should be built in Nairobi in anticipation of the city’s high population by 2050 is bad advice.

Mr Adolwa, who previously served as Nairobi County Director of Town Planning, says that unlike in other countries, town planners, who should be prioritised in all development plans in the country, are nowhere near the government.

“In London, the town planner is second only to the mayor. In New York, the city planner speaks and everyone trembles. In Nairobi, the Town Planner is anonymous and that tells you why we are in trouble because what he says doesn’t matter,” said Mr Adolwa, “Urban planning has been reduced to heights, you cannot reduce this complexity to a story about heights.

Speaking on behalf of the Karen Langata District Association, its chairman, Samora Sikalieh, said their grievances had been ignored and their next step was to go to court to stop the governor from rezoning some areas.

“If the governor does not listen to us because it is difficult to find the governor who was elected, we will use the courts because we are almost there. Even if it means going to court to seek a moratorium to stop development until you give us the physical development plan documents,” Mr Samora said.

“We are here today to tell the governor that we have had enough. We are here to tell the governor, because he is the leader of this county, that we are aware of the Physical and Land Use Planning Act”.

The lobby groups said the chaos in the Pipeline area and some other parts of the city was due to poor planning and ignorance of existing plans, which should not be allowed to happen anywhere.