Badi stops all developments in Mathare and Korogocho

Plans are underway to declare Korogocho and Mathare as special planning areas ahead of their upgrade.

This will be in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s March 18, 2020, directive to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service to undertake slum-upgrading initiatives in the capital.

As announced by NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi on Friday, development plans in the two areas will be a reference framework for developers and regulatory agencies.

“The move will ensure that any future developments in the informal settlements targeted will be undertaken under a planning framework,” he said.

Once the declaration is gazetted, it means all development plans in the two slum areas will be suspended for two years to facilitate the formulation of harmonised standards and guidelines for buildings and other forms of development as defined under the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, 2019.

The public will be able to have a view of the physical map of the affected areas after it is posted at City Hall, the Nairobi City County official website and the offices of the Ward Administrators of the respective wards.

However, according to DG Badi, the declaration will not affect any permissions granted six months before the date when the notice will be issued.

NMS targets informal settlements within Kibra for upgrade

Ayany and Olympic estates have been excluded in the development plan.

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Upgrading of slums 

Mathare and Korogocho will now join Kibra and Mukuru Kwa Njenga informal settlements, which have already been declared special planning areas.

In May, 2020, NMS suspended all development plans for two years in four informal settlements in Kibra Sub County as it declared it a special planning area.

The declaration issued by NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi on Tuesday is aimed to prepare Sarangombe, Laini Saba, Makina and Lindi for a participatory, economically feasible, socially and environmentally sustainable Physical Development Plan in accordance with the provisions of physical and Land Use Planning Act, 2019.

However, Ayany and Olympic estates in Sarangombe, were excluded in the development plan.

These areas join Mukuru Kwa Njenga, which in August 2017, was officially declared as a Special Planning Area by the County Government of Nairobi.

The declaration also put a stop to any further development in the almost 650 acres area for a two-year period until a Mukuru Integrated Development Plan was produced.

Residents in Mukuru had not only faced persistent evictions but did not have access to basic essential services at an affordable cost.

One among the many objectives of the declaration was to develop ways which would promote the safety and health of the residents.

Giving an update of the ongoing development plans in Mukuru, DG Badi stated that works were progressing on smoothly and uninterrupted.

He also noted that the Special Planning Area Framework had been extended for a further two-year period.

“I wish to report that Mukuru informal settlement Renewal Programme is well underway and we have extended the Special Planning Area Framework for the area for a further two-year period."

Three sector plans – water and sanitation, Roads & drainage and electrification were finalized and implementation commenced in May 2020,” Badi noted.