LGI News: It’s not too late to slay poor urban planning ogre

From BD Africa (August 30, 2007)

By Emmanuel Wetang’ula

30-August-2007: Kiserian town is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

The above observation was made by the Constitutional Court in a decision that will have far reaching implications on many towns in the country suffering unco-ordinated and unplanned development.

As Nairobi teeters on the verge of bursting at its seams, it was made known that the city does not have a master plan, the last one having been formulated over two decades ago and largely ignored.

Similarly, other towns in the country have never had master plans. This has resulted in uncontrolled development, leading to the mushrooming of slums, pollution, traffic congestion and insecurity.

Back to the case: Waweru v/s Republic arose where some plot owners in Kiserian Township were charged with discharging raw sewage into a public water source and the environment.

The accused had erected residential cum commercial buildings on plots whose plans had been approved by Olkejuado County Council. Every building had a septic tank for disposal of solid waste.

The court argued that Kiserian is located on a water table and the buildings’ plans had been approved. However, due to the absence of a sewage plant, waste is emptied into Kiserian River, threatening the lives of users downstream.

The buildings’ owners were definitely strangers to the principle of sustainable development.

The court ruled that no further development should be undertaken in Kiserian Township without satisfying environmental and health requirements, including the provision of septic tanks and exhauster services.

The decision spells out the folly of uncontrolled development and the astronomical cost to be borne in trying to reverse the damage already done to the ecosystem.

It is obvious that law enforcement agencies have been the greatest failure. The grabbing of every little space, building across rivers, degazeting of forests, and so forth, have been the role of the Lands Office and Local Authorities.

Be that as it may, it is not too late to remedy the grim situation as per the judgment. Regulating land use is in the interest of the greater public, to secure proper resource utilisation and management.

The police force’s power is an attribute of the sovereignty of the State. It is high time such powers were invoked to save us from ourselves.

Wetang’ula is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

LGI News: A Metropolitan Authority for Nairobi is long overdue

"TO SAY THAT KENYA TODAY IS not short of ideas to improve the quality of life in its cities is not an understatement. What Kenya lacks is the resolve and prime movers to implement policy.
Last week’s announcement by Local Government minister Musikari Kombo that the Government has approved the formation of Nairobi Metropolitan Authority (NMA), which will be responsible for planning the city and its suburbs is excellent news. If this decision is implemented, Nairobi will attract significant investments in the next few years.
In the recent past, many investors have voiced worries that unless we address the issue of urban planning urgently, Nairobi will be damaged beyond repair.

Existing pressures from unplanned and sprawling human settlements, increasing population density, swelling unmanaged traffic volumes, and harmful environmental trends are not consistent with Nairobi’s sustainable development.

THE FIRST STEP FOR NMA, THEREfore, when it becomes operational, is to tackle two issues which are derailing the positive growth and development of Nairobi.

The first is to review Nairobi’s boundary. This is important so that Nairobians can benefit from effective management as well as receiving sufficient allocation of resources.

Since Kenya attained independence in 1963, Nairobi boundary has not been redefined. Prior to that, the boundary had been reviewed four times.

According to Winnie Mitullah in the publication, Urban Slums Report: The Case of Nairobi, Kenya, in 1906, a year before Nairobi became the capital of Kenya, it occupied 1,813 hectares and its population was 11,512.

In 1927, the boundary was extended to cover 2,537 hectares, or 77 square kilometres. The population in 1928 was 29,864. After 20 years, the boundary was reviewed again.
In 1948, Nairobi occupied 8,315 hectares and the population was 118,976. Come 1963, the boundary was extended to cover 68,945 hectares or 686 square kilometres. The population by then had reached 342,764. Since then, there has been no boundary change in Nairobi despite its enormous growth and population increase.

Since it is imperative that Nairobi continues to fulfil its potential as a modern cosmopolitan city and an exemplar of contemporary living, there is an urgent need to redefine its boundary.
The second burning issue is the fast-tracking of the concept of a 24-hour city as envisaged in Vision 2030. As of today, the City Council has a very narrow perception of the night-time economy.

Night life provision and night time economy in Nairobi are insufficient and underdeveloped. They can be grouped into two broad categories. On one hand is a dense network of licensed bars, casinos, fast-food outlets, lodgings and nightclubs. On the other hand, we have a dense network of drug dealings and commercial sex.

Now, because of frequent harassment of commercial sex workers by authorities on the main streets of the city centre, this trade is shifting towards upmarket Westlands and Kilimani areas.
The boisterous downtown chain of bars and lodgings provides fun, sex havens and hedonistic atmosphere for average Kenyans who want to have good time. However, there is high night crime rates in these areas. And as a result, night life security has emerged as a major employment sector.

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE, MAINstream night life in Nairobi continues to play an important role in our culture and economy as dwindling middle class earners seek places of release.

Now, the night time economy is a much more complex phenomenon than this. From a business point of view, it requires a range of interconnecting strategies and an interdisciplinary sensibility.

For Nairobi to attain a 24-hour city status and be able to attract international investors as envisaged in Vision 2030, we need to design, plan, and position Nairobi as one of the world’s intelligent cities.

The intelligent city concept rides on a wider concept of knowledge-based society. One of its goals is to create new and innovative sets of inter-operable, electronic government and private sector services that provide instant information about all aspects of a city via interactive city-wide, Internet-based applications.

Nairobi will then have new forms of electronic governance, greater social inclusion, as well as greater competitive advantages through enlarged access to services for citizens, visitors and businesspeople.

Mr Kitau is the managing director, Bruce Trucks and Equipments (EA) Ltd."