From left: Nairobi governor Evans Kidero, Jica official Koji Noda and
City Hall’s Tom Odongo during the launch on Tuesday. Photo/Phoebe Okall
By KIARIE NJOROGE, gkiarie@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Governor Evans Kidero said the Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Master Plan (Niuplan) was centred around the creation of more than a dozen commercial centres to create multiple economic arteries in the city.
- The list of locations earmarked for the developments includes Runda, Ruaraka, Ruiru, Ruai, Karen and Lang’ata.
- The master plan says its success is hinged on the willingness of several government agencies to release their huge land holdings for development.
The Nairobi government Tuesday launched a new
development plan for the city that is hinged on construction of new road
and rail networks to disperse activity away from the central business
district (CBD).
Governor Evans Kidero said the Nairobi Integrated
Urban Development Master Plan (Niuplan) was centred around the creation
of more than a dozen commercial centres to create multiple economic
arteries in the city.
The list of locations earmarked for the developments includes Runda, Ruaraka, Ruiru, Ruai, Karen and Lang’ata.
Uthiru and Kabete have been earmarked for
development as office and commercial centres while Doonholm and Airport
North will be reserved for industrial and commercial while Kasarani will
be developed into a residential, commercial and entertainment enclave.
Dr Kidero said the centres would be served by
major transport corridors that are linked to the Thika highway, Mombasa
Road and newly built by-passes in the city.
A network of metro railway lines will also interconnect the centres and the CBD to ease congestion.
“Location of sub-centres envisaged in the land use
plan is connected to stations of commuter rail line,” the master plan
says, adding that to induce the creation of sub-centres, development of
a commuter rail line must be prioritised.
The master plan, which was officially launched
Tuesday, says its success is hinged on the willingness of several
government agencies to release their huge land holdings for development.
Kenya Power
tops the list of agencies with huge tracts of land in the city in
places like Dandora where it has a generous way leave that can be used
to develop a road or railway line if power cables are taken underground.
Others are stadium land near Kasarani and railway land across the city.
The Nairobi development blueprint proposes to
alter the land use zoning and plot ratios in areas earmarked for
development to allow for mixed use and denser settlement.
It remains to be seen whether residents of
exclusive suburbs such as Karen and Runda will accept changes that are
likely introduce commercial and high rise structures in their
neighbourhoods.
City Hall said the proposed changes are also meant
to enable the city to accommodate more people beyond the five million
limit possible under the current ratios and zoning.
The document warns that a rapid roll-out of the
plan is necessary to effectively manage the current population growth
rates. Even in a best case scenario of suppressed growth, Nairobi will
have 5.2 million people by 2030.
“This means that if Nairobi County needs to
accommodate more than five million population, the existing regulation
in Development Ordinance must be revised to change land use to convert
some of the non-residential land to residential use and change plot
ratio to higher value to promote higher population density,” says the
report.
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