- Planners want the project anchored on a development plan that clearly sets out its clear goals and objectives.
- County government has not approved any plan for implementation of Nairobi River rehabilitation project.
By Adieri Mulaa
Rehabilitation work on the Nairobi River Regeneration Project along the Kangemi-Dagoretti corridor is being done without a spatial plan approved by the county planning department as provided by law.
Planners now say the multi-billion project by the national government, jointly with partners, should be anchored on a development plan that clearly sets out its vision, goals and objectives.
The Fourth Schedule, Part 2 (8) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and other subsidiary statutes bestow upon county governments the responsibility of development control.
However, it has emerged that Nairobi City County Government planning department has not approved any plans for the on-going multi-agency Nairobi River Regeneration initiative in the Kangemi-Dagoretti corridor.
On Wednesday, October 1, 2025 Nairobi City County Assembly Planning and Housing Committee was told the role of the county government in the multi-agency river rehabilitation project was only as a stakeholder.
During the Committee sitting, the County Executive Committee Member for Built Environment, Urban Planning and Housing, Mr Patrick Mbogo explained that the role of the county government was only advisory as a stakeholder.
"We are just a stakeholder but the implementing authority or agency is Nairobi River Regeneration initiative. We have a specific responsibility of guiding on the planning", he said.
The County Chief Officer for Planning and Urban Development, Mr Patrick Analo cited the distinct roles of the two levels of government defined by the constitution, which gives county authorities the planning and development mandate in various corridors within their jurisdictions.
”Personally, I have appeared in one of those meetings and indicated this programme must be preceded by a spatial plan because it is a project being implemented on land”, Analo asserted.
Land owners in Kangemi suburbs and the larger Dagoretti area have petitioned Nairobi City County Assembly, over a punitive notice issued by the county government over the rehabilitation project.
They cite the notice as unlawful and discriminatory implementation of the River regeneration initiative in the Kangemi-Dagoretti corridor, which falls within their ancestral settlements.
The petitioners appeared before the House Sectoral Committee on Planning and Housing on Wednesday, October 1, 2025 to present their grievances.
Arising from the meeting, the Assembly has directed the county government to halt activities on the project to allow a representative public participation process.
Mr Mbogo told the House planning committee that the county government has not approved any plan for implementation of this project.
However, he said the river corridor was a responsibility of Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA), and to an extend, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
Ms Waithera Chege, the MCA for Nairobi South Ward and deputy Leader of Minority told the Committee that Nairobi county was not well represented in the multi-agency project, to assert itself as the planning authority.
The Leader of Minority and MCA for Waithaka Ward, Mr Anthony Kiragu sought to know whether the county planning sector had advised the multi-urgency team involved in the Nairobi River Regeneration Project that they were encroaching on private land parcels and they should respect the sanctity of title deeds.
Analo told the Committee the county planning department had a wide jurisdiction in the city that is not confined to the Nairobi Rivers corridor.
He explained that besides the river corridor, the county planning and development mandate covers many other corridors, including the road corridor.
The House committee sitting further heard that the planning role covers many other corridors in the city, including forests, and even the popularly spoken about Affordable Housing Programme.
”The planning mandate is not unique only to Nairobi River. The mandate extends to Kibra, with a history of the Nubian community, that has once been declared as a special planning area”, the chief city planner told the House committee.
A former director of city planning in the defunct City Council of Nairobi, Mr Tom Odongo says all development in a city must be plan-led.
”Planning must be done first to set up the development vision, goals and objectives to be attained in any part of the city”, says Odongo, a senior planner and urban planning consultant.
”The question to ask, is whether development control responsibility bestowed upon the county government can be exercised without undertaking planning to set up the development vision, goals and objectives to be attained in any part of the city,” Mr Odongo posed.
