Blueprint to ease crowding in Nairobi city

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero on Tuesday launched a development masterplan aimed at decentralising social and economic activities from the city centre.

Dr Kidero said a majority of the 3.5 million residents concentrate their activities in the CBD, resulting in heavy population and traffic jams.

To address the problem, the Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Masterplan (Niuplan) 2014-2018 proposes the adoption of a sub-centre system called bipolar corridor development on land use and settlement.

The draft proposes that nodes located on the interchange of the expected road network should be created in seven sub-centres that include Runda-Ruaka, Ruiru, Ruai, Karen and Lang’ata, which are sparsely populated.

“We plan to strengthen the sub-centres to promote balanced development by narrowing the east-west gap, while easing pressure on the CBD and dispersing social activities throughout the county,” he said.

Establishment of sub-centres was expected to synchronise urban and transport development.

The plan proposes an integrated road network and enhancement of the transport system in the CBD.

It identifies Kilimani as one of the estates where land use has changed from individual houses to construction of apartments.

“It was developed with technical assistance of Japan with support of the Kenyan government. The document is expected to transform the way things are done in the city and should be supported by residents,” Dr Kidero said.