The Senate has issued a temporary halt to the implementation of the Urban City Regeneration Plan led by the Nairobi County government.
The Roads, Transportation, and Housing Committee instructed the Senate to handle a petition submitted by residents of three estates: Ofafa Jericho, Lumumba, and Maringo. However, the petition has been pending before the Senate for more than a year.
“The committee orders that the city county halts the development of the 13 estates until this matter is concluded by the committee,” ordered committee Chair Karungo Thang’wa.
Governor Sakaja in protest, pleaded with the committee to vary the ruling, claiming it will affect contractual obligations of the companies that have already signed a contract with the county government. “The people of these 13 estates fear that they are being left out, and that they will lose out on their homes, it’s only fair that that we deal with what they are raising before the project can take off.”
Sakaja told the committee that the city had already signed 7 contracts with different firms to develop 7 estates in the city, saying that halting of the project will be counterproductive. The earmarked estates for demolition and redevelopment are Woodley, Jericho, Ziwani, Maringo Kariobangi North, Bahati and Lumumba.
“It was not going to start in any case until we deal with these issues, but giving a blanket order that we stop the implementation is going to have a lot of negative contractual issues, because the contractors must look for money from both local and international markets to finance the projects,” he told the committee.
Sakaja went ahead to assure concerned residents is that there won’t be any evictions in the next three months, until all these issues presented have been dealt.
He also reassured the residents of the estates and pledged that they would sign a Memorandum of Understanding. This agreement would ensure that the residents receive a house upon the project’s completion as a reward for their loyalty to the county over the years.
“These tenants have been paying rent for 40 or even 50 years. They have been very loyal tenants, from parents to their children; now they will be able to own the houses,” he said.
The committee that also fined Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja KES 500,000 for consistently missing committee sittings, said it was prudent that the issues being raised by the residents of the 13 counties are heard and determined before the implementation of the project starts.
