The restoration of green spaces in Nairobi has shifted to City Park after the launch of the John Michuki Memorial Park by President Uhuru Kenyatta on August 14.
Already, about 200 youths under the Kazi Mtaani programme are clearing bushes at City Park, supervised by the Kenya Forest Service.
On Tuesday, KFS chief conservator of forests Julius Kamau said rangers have been deployed to secure the green space on Limuru Road.
Kamau disclosed that an action plan and a restoration budget will be ready by the end of the week.
During the commemoration of the World Environment Day on June 5, President Kenyatta directed the Environment ministry, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services and the KFS to reclaim and conserve the park.
The President told the KFS to fast-track the forest management plan with community associations for the area to be fenced.
“We are also reclaiming our Ngong Forest. We are going to start the process of fencing it and ensuring that it is also available not only for the present but also for future generations,” he said.
President Kenyatta said the government is committed to the conservation of green spaces and listed several ongoing initiatives among them the restoration of Michuki Park, the expansion of Nairobi National Park and the reclamation of grabbed forest land.
He said the government is working overtime to expand green areas across the country.
“We have done in the last one month another 2,000 acres for Nairobi National Park and this is what we want to continue doing including restoration of various green areas among them rehabilitation of City Park,” the President said.
He underscored the key role forests play as reservoirs of biodiversity, noting that Kenya is on course to achieving the 10 per cent national tree cover target.
On Tuesday, Kamau cited the benefits of green spaces among them the reduction of urban heat, energy conservation, reduction of noise pollution and improvement of air quality.
The Michuki Memorial Park was previously known as Mazingira Park. It was renamed Michuki Park in 2012 in honour of the Mwai Kibaki administration no-nonsense Environment minister John Michuki.
Until its restoration to the serene beauty it now is, the park was a haven of criminal gangs.
