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Divert development to other towns

The agglomeration of major skyscrapers in the Upper Hill part of Nairobi is worth some celebration especially as Kenya aims at becoming an industrialized, middle-income economy. It is however also a reason to send a shiver down the spines of the city’s frequent users because the limited resources available may become overstretched.

Over the last decade, Upper Hill has had a significant increase in value and infrastructural development, particularly residential and commercial buildings. Real estate and insurance companies, banks, law firms and even government parastatals have all set up developments on hundreds of square feet of land in Upper Hill.

Upper Hill is currently considered Nairobi’s financial hub, with quantity surveyors estimating that this city within a city could turn out to be among the richest city’s in Africa. Projects such as the 70 storey and almost half a kilometer Pinnacle building which is positioned to be the highest building in Africa, The Montave, Britam Towers and the Lordship Africa condominium are all in the advanced stages of completion.

The buildings will host hundreds of thousands of residents and workers in the various companies that are setting up. Rural-urban migration is on the increase, with people actually migrating from other towns into the city. With the population increase that will come with these developments, resources like water and sewerage will be overexploited.

Currently, Nairobi is already undersupplying water with less than 500,000 cubic meters in a day, out of the targeted 760,000 cubic meters for the 3.5 million people. Should the population shoot by one million in a year without increasing water sources, a major shortage will hit the city.

Other factors like the amount of electricity being supplied to the city, width of sewerage lines and public facilities shall need to be expanded. The number of vehicles is also in the increase; thus, roads expansion and new parking lots are a necessity. Pollution shall also increase thus putting the existence of certain aspects at risk.

Given the limited space and the state of the already developed city, the expansion of these amenities may be a mystery. The government needs to instigate the private sector to divert development to other towns. It also needs to decentralize its services to other counties.

Tatu and Konza Cities that are located less than 20 Kilometers from Upper Hill are ideal places for setting up new some of these developments, especially those that involve bringing a high number of people into a single location.

Bidco’s largest firm and Angels cosmetic hairs producers for instance have been set up in Tatu City and Ruiru respectively. They have employed over 10,000 staff. The question arises on how Nairobi would manage such a number coming in to the city at an impulse.

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On the other hand, since Kiambu County has the capacity to handle such a number as it is not as populated, it is an advantage to the county. This number will come in with further development trying to match Nairobi.

Other rapidly developing towns across the country also need to have such major investments directed to them with an aim to ensuring a holistic development in the country.

A redacted version of this article has been published by The Standard by the same author