Policy on urban development needed

Real Estate

A policy framework to guide the rapid urban development sector is required in the wake of the new Constitution. The country lacks a policy to guide urban development despite the ongoing construction boom.

Consequently, the nightmare of most towns is spontaneous growth, uncoordinated initiatives and weak regulatory capacity. There are over 70 Acts of Parliament that govern urban development countrywide, which create conflicts, overlapping roles and poor co-ordination.

Consultative process

Legally, harmonisation of current legal and institutional frameworks to address the rapid urbanisation growth is needed.

Therefore, efforts of the Civil Society Urban Development Programme (CSUDP) to develop a National Urban Development Policy (NUDP) are a step in the right direction. Furthermore, the collaboration of CUSDP, private sector, and the Urban Development Department in the Ministry of Local Government has backing of the State.

And two recent multi-stakeholder workshops in Nairobi on delivery of the NUDP are pointers of a deep consultative process with professionals.

According to the latest document titled NUDP: Validation of Concept Paper and Formation of Thematic Groups, the process is at an advanced stage. Currently, nine thematic groups that look into professional methods of urban development on planning, land and environment are at work.

Others are housing and informal settlements, urban infrastructure and services, local economic development, municipal and urban finance.

Linkages of rural/urban, urban/urban, urban governance and management, gender, youth and vulnerable groups, urban safety and disaster risk management are also included.

Consequently, the success of the policy formulation would revamp development across the 175 municipalities countrywide.

Today, a paltry 30 per cent of urban centres are planned nationwide, according to the latest Kenya Country Report the 4th World Urban Forum.

Unplanned settlements

However, Government figures show that over 50 per cent of urban population live in unplanned settlements. For instance, in Nairobi alone, three out of every five people live in informal settlements, occupying a paltry five per cent of residential land.

Poor planning and haphazard location of industries — even within residential areas — have led to a development nightmare. Consequently, housing remains inadequate compelling majority of urban dwellers — mainly low-income households — to live in slums.

Ironically, the new Constitution provides for the rights to housing, sanitation, water, safe and clean environment. Therefore, CUSDP must step up efforts to ensure that social and economic rights enshrined in the Constitution are accessed via the NUDP.

Globally, urban areas are engines of economic growth and account for 70 per cent of a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At home, Nairobi alone accounts for 47.5 per cent of the total national GDP, according to Government reports.

Therefore, a policy that would provide a framework for sustainable urban development as articulated in the Constitution and Vision 2030 must be embraced.

The writer is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

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