NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 27 – Professional bodies have now described Governor Johnson Sakaja’s plan to eliminate height restrictions on buildings in Nairobi as unlawful.
Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday, the bodies indicated that the move by the government goes against the city plan.
They are also opposed to the governor’s desire to rezone some areas in the city.
Architectural Associations of Kenya President Florence Nyole asserted that Sakaja’s directives falls short of the correct legal procedure.
”We wish to categorically state that the governor’s approach blatantly disregards the correct legal procedure and good order. While the governor has the right to initiate zoning at the county level through respective County Executive Committee Member, the County Governments Act of 2012 explicitly states that such decisions must be aligned to the relevant plans,” she stated.
The group cited the recent flooding in the city attributing it to poor planning ,a factor they now insist must be put into consideration as the governor rolls out his rezoning process.
Sakaja had recently disclosed that City Hall is in the process of implementing a regularization strategy that is based on making sure that the right planning for building construction inside the city is done.
According to Sakaja, certain buildings in restricted estates like Kileleshwa were constructed through bribes and blatantly violated the rules dictating the number of floors.
“Part of what we are doing was done in 2015 but that was done mainly in Eastlands is the regularization of developments. A lot of buildings were put up without that process. We are doing a regularization process to make sure that in the next step there is proper planning. The problem has been planning,” he said.
