Construction boom raises fears over poor urban planning

A multi-agency rescue team at the scene of the collapsed building in Eastleigh, Nairobi. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

The rise of construction projects in the country is raising fears that the rush to put up buildings is outpacing urban planning, leaving residents to contend with unreliable water supplies, poor sewerage connections, traffic congestion and shrinking neighbourhood spaces.

Professionals at the Kenya Property Developers Association’s(KPDA) 20th anniversary annual conference warned that the country risks creating cities that attract investment but fail to provide the infrastructure, safety and quality of life needed to sustain growing urban populations.

KPDA Chairman Zoravar Singh said the industry needs to prioritise sustainable urban development, liveability and quality buildings that comply with regulations and respond to the needs of the communities in which they are built.

“We are very keen on sustainable urban development, sustainability, livability, quality developments that adhere to regulatory standards, that are ingrained within the communities that we operate in,” he said.

 President of Architecture Association of Kenya George Ndege said the country was concentrating too heavily on constructing buildings without adequately considering the neighbourhoods in which they sit or the people expected to live and work in them.

“Right now, Kenya is a construction site. There’s no plan. We are not thinking about planning. We are not thinking about the next 50 years,” he said.

Ndege challenged developers to look beyond architectural designs and the immediate financial returns from construction, arguing that the value of a property depends partly on the quality of its surroundings.

“The most important thing is to look at how the neighbourhood can be built rather than the building itself,” he said.

He warned that an attractive building could still be a poor investment if it stood in an unsafe or badly planned neighbourhood.

“The first thing that developers need to think about critically is where are they building? What is the value of the property's, not in terms of the cost of land, but in terms of the quality of life?” he posed.

In Nairobi, the concerns are reflected in the challenges facing residents, with statistics showing that only 24 per cent of households are connected to the main sewer system, while just 21 per cent have direct piped water.

Ndirangu Maina, the chairman of Metro Alliance, an umbrella  organisation bringing together resident associations, said access to infrastructure did not necessarily translate into reliable services, pointing to a significant disparity between high-income and low-income neighbourhoods.

In low-income areas, he indicated that only 12 per cent of households reportedly enjoy a consistent water supply.

He also pointed to traffic congestion as another concern, estimating that motorists take an average of 26 minutes to cover 10 kilometres in Nairobi

“The forces that are shaping the city are shaping the city in the wrong direction,” the speaker said.

He, blamed Nairobi’s development challenges on what he described as an unresponsive county government and developers who disregard laws, building codes and regulations.

He said residents had increasingly organised themselves to monitor construction in their neighbourhoods, engage developers and raise concerns about services that should ordinarily be addressed by the county government.

Similarly, the regulatory framework has also been blamed for impeding development.

Lydia Abala, a tax and investment expert at KPMG argued that Kenya could attract investment while maintaining stronger control over how projects are developed.

Abala said developers working on major urban projects have to navigate multiple national and county government agencies, including those responsible for taxation, building approvals, environmental clearances, and water and sewerage services.

While the individual requirements might be justified, she said the process was fragmented and made it difficult for investors to establish the full cost of a project before committing their money.

She has proposed maintaining predictable tax policies for up to five years in priority sectors such as housing and infrastructure, allowing investors to plan their projects with greater certainty.

She also called for better coordination among government agencies and closer alignment between tax policy and Nairobi’s long-term development plans.

At the same time, sponsors at the conference highlighted technologies and products they said could contribute to more sustainable buildings and better living experiences.

Dr Bharat Bhushan, representing India’s Median Technologies, said energy management was an important component of sustainable and liveable buildings.

The company specialises in smart metering and technology-based solutions, including systems built around the Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“Energy is a major contributor towards sustainability and livability,” Bhushan said.

He said combining these technologies could help improve energy management, strengthen security for residents and add value to properties.

The solutions, he said, could support developers seeking to improve the performance of buildings while responding to growing expectations around sustainability and liveability.

Other major industry players taking part in the conference include Crown Paints, Smart Meter Technology(PCTL Automation Limited), Boma Yangu, Sun King.