Narok plans for future amidst flood havoc

A section of Narok town,Narok County.The town is fast-growing as a tourist and Agricultural town but design and infrastructure is still a challenge.[PHOTOS By ROBERT KIPLAGAT/STANDARD]

Narok, Kenya: It is a fast-growing tourism and agricultural town owing to its strategic location and proximity to the capital city.

Narok town, the headquarters to Narok County has witnessed tremendous growth for the last two years and local urban development officials are already dreaming of city status.

However, the infrastructural network remains a major challenge.

Some of the myriad challenges that the town is currently grappling with include lack of a designated garbage disposal site, sewage system, drainage, cemetery and proper water supply system in residential areas.

Bernard Ole Kina a local property owner in the Total area says they are forced to use septic tanks, which are quite costly as they have to empty them every three months at a cost of Sh10,000.

“If we had a sewerage system, it would be cheaper, but now we have had to increase rents to compensate for the extra expenditure,” says Kina.

 First plan

The town’s first town plan was done in 1958, designed for a tiny population, smaller than the town hosts now. Poor town planning and design however, has led to structures being built along waterways.

As a result, flood water is wreaking havoc, as recently witnessed when 15 people were swept away.

However, the county government has outlined plans to upgrade the town starting with the development of a new plan.

County Chief Officer in-charge of Urban Development and Physical Planning Justus Ruto says the county has come up with a plan (Narok Town Strategic Development Plan 2015) which will change the look of the town.

“In the proposed plan, we will have the town divided into zones such as industrial, agro-industrial, residential, tourist and waste disposal areas so that we have a clear designation of every development by 2030,” explains Ruto.

Drainage system

Other projects the county says it is working on include a Sh500 million drainage system, roads and dams to control the flooding that occurs during rainy seasons.

As a temporary measure in garbage collection, the county official says the county is planning to purchase garbage collection trucks as a means of tackling solid waste.

Water, which is a major challenge in the town, Ruto says, will be a thing of the past as a mega water plant being undertaken by the county in conjunction with Japan’s International Co-operation Agency is set to be complete by the end of this year.

A recent announcement by Governor Samuel Kuntai Ole Tunai that plot owners within the town will be issued with title deeds was received positively.

Many hope this will boost the town’s development, as land owners will be able to use the documents to borrow money to develop the plots.

 Title deeds

Tunai says he had agreed with the Lands ministry to provide about 100 surveyors to survey the town in a two-month crash programme, after which title deeds will be issued to the respective land owners.

“Narok town has not been able to fully develop since most of the plots do not have legal ownership documents. It is an issue that we want to deal with it once and for all before 2017, so that our people will embark on developing their lands,” said Tunai.

Recent plans by the governor to relocate Narok town to a 600-acre holding ground in Limatet were met with resistance from a section of Maasai elders who claimed that the community was not consulted, but the governor has renewed his intentions to do so.

In a bid to meet the growing population, the county also wants to relocate the cemetery.

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