Lessons Nairobi can learn from UAE on managing transport and housing

 Traffic marshall controlling traffic as pedestrian waits to passes on  well-marked zebra crossings. [James Wanzala, Standard]

During my recent visit to the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week that is part of the World Future of Energy Summit, I also visited Dubai and stayed in Sharjah, one of the UAE's seven emirates, equivalent of States.

I learnt a few lessons that Nairobi and Kenya can borrow from the UAE to make our capital city livable and provide better housing for the residents.

Compared to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, referred to as "Europe of the Arab world,” offers a more relaxed, traditional and culturally rich experience with a focus on government, oil wealth and family-friendly amenities.

This is despite both cities being modern, cosmopolitan and offering excellent living, with Abu Dhabi generally having slightly lower living costs.

1. Well-maintained walkways on streets, roads with flowers, trees and more recreational parks.

Along the streets or pavements are trees and plants of various species. In some places, trees are surrounded by concrete seating spaces. 

The plants and flowers are well watered, ensuring healthy leaves and flowers.

The availability of walkways and trees encourages walking, jogging and relaxation in this Middle East country whose summer (which happens between June and September) has temperatures soaring as high as 45 degrees Celsius.

The trees, including palm trees that dot the city, offer a good cooling effect in the city during summer.

There has been a lot of tree cutting in the Nairobi Central Business District without planting more, especially along Moi Avenue to create walkways. This has left city dwellers with few shades.

2. Few and well-designed footbridges with wide and properly marked at-grade crossings

Unlike Nairobi, with many footbridges on major roads, most of which stay idle due to encroachment by traders, street families, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, there are fewer footbridges.

Instead, there exist raised markings for people to cross the road, aided by traffic lights. The few footbridges are short, and some even have lifts. 

According to Chrispin Mang’ong’o, a Kenyan who has been living in Sharjah, jaywalking attracts fines.

I saw a road sign showing that jaywalking on highways is 400 Dirams (Sh14,000), while picking and dropping at wrong places is 600 Dirams (Sh21,000), and cameras are everywhere to capture those violations in real time.

3. Vehicle speeds are monitored by speed cameras

Here, vehicles, including taxis, have their speeds monitored too. You will see taxis written on the boot: "My Speed is monitored." Within the city roads, the speed varies by road from 120 kilometres per hour to 160km/h maximum speed. Some urban places have speeds of 40km/h to 80km/h, while residential zones have speeds of 20km/h to 40km/h.

Instant fines, just like it happens in Europe and Rwanda, apply here too.

A pedestrain footbridge that is short. [James Wanzala, Standard

In the UAE, trucks have restricted times on major roads and are banned during peak hours. This helps ease congestion and improve safety.

These rules aim to reduce conflict between heavy and light vehicles on busy corridors like Abu Dhabi-Dubai Highway, Abu Dhabi Island and Airport Road, aligning with Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.

There are no motorcycles (boda bodaks, tuk-tuks, or handcarts in towns. Instead, buses, metros (in Dubai) and taxis serve the public with transport needs. Some bus stations start where metro stations end.

This reduces congestion in the city, too. Fares do not increase or reduce depending on peak hours, rainy day or any other economic reason, like the way it happens in Nairobi.

"This enables one to properly plan for his or her company staff or personal transport needs for even a month or more using the card," said Mang'ong'o.

4. Parking is paid per hour

Unlike in Nairobi, where a receipt taken in the morning will be used for a whole day, here in the UAE, parking is based on hours. They are set in zones(A, B, C), and the money paid for them depends on time and location.

One pays immediately after parking and does so according to the time he or she will stay. You can pay for an hour and also request to extend, for instance, for an extra hour, but not less than an hour.

“Implementing this will help Nairobi to increase revenues and limit the vehicles and discourage people from driving to town and thus reduce congestion and in the process create availability of parking spaces since there will not be idle cars sitting on parking lots for long,” said Mang’ong’o.

Common violations on parking and which attract fines include expired tickets leading to overstay, wrong or illegal parking (blocking traffic at no-parking zones), parking in disabled spots and double parking or blocking.

An apartment entrance that has ramps for people with disability. In UAE, they are called People of Determination. [James Wanzala, Standard

In the UAE, fines and violations are categorised based on whether they relate to vehicle traffic (handled by police) or public transport or parking infrastructure (handled by the road authorities).

The UAE has different transport authorities for each emirate. Parking is paid via phone using an application like the Dubai Police app and text messages, and if you don't pay on time, you cannot renew your vehicle license.

Breakdowns are nearly on all roads and are ready to quickly clear the road in case of a serious accident. In case of a minor one, drivers come out, take pictures and share with the police, who will handle the case later and move, thus clearing the accident scene.

Unlike in Nairobi, you will wait for police officers to come and clear you, sometimes a process that takes a long time, causing traffic jams.

5. Apartments’ entrances are disability-friendly and have lifts

In Sharjah, the entrances have ramps for people with disability and lifts, allowing smooth entry and exit and arrival to one’s floor.

Housing developers in the UAE must adhere to strict accessibility requirements focused on creating inclusive environments for "People of Determination." 

These standards, largely governed by the UAE Universal Design Code, necessitate that all public and private buildings feature ramps, lifts and accessible pathways to ensure independent movement and access. 

This is unlike in Kenya, where such ramps are not factored in during construction. In Pipeline estate in Embakasi, for instance, flats go upto even eight floors without lifts, and entrances do not favour the disabled.