City Hall on right track over Dandora dumpsite

In the din over post-election violence and naming of the Ocampo Six, a City Council of Nairobi advertisement almost passed unnoticed.

The civic body is seeking expressions of interest for the decommissioning of Dandora waste disposal site.

This is, perhaps, one of the most important announcements City Hall has made on behalf of the four million residents of Nairobi.

In the helter-skelter that defines this bustling metropolis as a regional economic hub, darling of real estate developers, den of thieves, seat of government and destination of choice for rural residents and foreign migrants, everybody is only worried about how to feed and house this mass of humanity.

Little is said about how and where to dispose of all the effluent, industrial and household waste they generate. As a result, even as a blanket of smog palls over Nairobi’s skyline, the Eastern sector is home to the Dandora dumpsite as well as other landfills, courtesy of an unplanned city infrastructure and attendant impunity by garbage collectors. They have little regard for the disposal and processing of the waste. That is why the City Hall invite for tenders is a breath of fresh air and possible lasting solution to the mounds of garbage — large and small — that are an inescapable feature of every estate.

Capital-intensive

Prior attempts to get a development partner to undertake this exercise has been mired in controversy, alleged tender malpractice, political interference and apathy from city residents.

The result has seen cronyism, ad hoc attempts to shovel away an important pillar of the urban planning process.

If the tender requirements as short-listed are followed, Nairobi will blaze the way for other urban centers for a similar endeavour. It does not come cheap for it is a capital-intensive undertaking, but once embraced, urban decay becomes a thing of the past.