Why Mombasa pulled plug on highrise buildings

By Bernard Sanga

Highrise development in parts of Mombasa Island and Nyali has been halted as Mombasa County Government streamlines the fast growing property sector.

Construction plans issued earlier but are yet to be implemented are also under review to conform to the city’s 30-year-old zonal plan and those that do not meet the stringent standards will be revoked.

The move, according to county officials, is to stop the current “haphazard” construction of buildings that has continued to put pressure on old infrastructure and provision of key services like water, electricity, sewerage system and roads.

Dilapitated sewerage

Real estate players, however, say the move has slowed down property sector growth that has in the recent past witnessed a boom owing to increased overseas remittance and easy access of mortgages from lending institutions.

The county authorities say by the end of last month, 200 of the more than 500 plans presented by developers were rejected because they do not conform to the zonal plan.

According to County Executive for Lands, Housing and Planning Francis Thoya, increased haphazard construction of buildings in Nyali and Kizingo continues to put pressure on the environment due to the city’s proximity to the ocean.

Nyali and Kizingo, hitherto exclusive residential parts of Mombasa with high-end residential houses, have been replaced with highrise rental buildings and office blocks going up to six floors up.

Mr Thoya said the county government will restrict the houses built in those areas to the required ceiling of three floors and in other areas only ground level houses will be allowed.

337 million litres

He said infrastructure like water supply, sewerage and roads has not been improved to match the fast development in the real estate sector.

Office, retail and residential segments of the real estate industry have been booming in Mombasa due to high demand.

Real estate experts projected that the growth would accelerate as many institutions set base at the county headquarters to tap opportunities presented by devolution.

“We have restricted ourselves to the zonal plan developed in the 1970s because we are yet to revise it. We are in the process of improving or coming up with a new one but for now the freeze on the construction of high rise building in Nyali and Kizingo will remain in force until we develop necessary infrastructure,” said Thoya, adding that though the county government was aware of the current urban trends it would not allow sudden mushrooming of highrise residential buildings everywhere that continue to put pressure on dilapidated sewerage and water supply infrastructure.

Coast Water and Services Board (CWSB) says that the city’s aging sewer line constructed in the 1960s is currently serving 300,000 people in the city out of the its one million population.

It is now believed that most of the waste produced in Mombasa is finding its way to the ocean. CWSB estimates that households in Mombasa produce about 337 million litres of waste a day.

Mombasa has two sewerage treatment plants at Kizingo and Kipevu, but it’s the latter that is in operation after it was rehabilitated at a cost of Sh297 million last year.

Demand for water in Mombasa has also shot up to 18 million litres a day, against the current supply of 5 million litres a day.

Election violence

“We have sent proposals to JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) to support to the construction of infrastructure. Until we construct support infrastructure all plans will have to conform to the zonal plan that is in place,” said Thoya in a telephone interview, adding that highrise buildings will only be allowed in Mwakirunge areas, approximately 30km from the island.

Real estate sector players have faulted the move, saying it is inhibiting investment in the city and slowing down the property sector.

“The fast growth in the sector is fuelled by demand. Developers that had secured loans to purchase plots are feeling the heat from lenders. It is a bad decision given that there have been constructions of such building in those areas before,” said Mwanda Thuranira, the Chief Executive Officer of MySpace Properties.

The real estate sector in the region had started recovering after the election bump that has led to rental and land prices to remain the same in the last one year.

In the run up to the General Election in March 4, developers in the coastal town abandoned their projects, postponed and reduced construction for fear of election violence.