[Source: The Standard, by Macharia Kamau]
Plans to build 1,800 housing units in Nairobi’s Ngara estate could face difficulties during the implementation phase. This is after the project was classified as high risk to the human population in the surrounding areas as well as the environment.
Through a public-private partnership, the Nairobi county government plans to build 1,800 affordable housing units where Jeevanjee and Bachelors estates stood until last year.
The mixed-use development will also have commercial units as well as parking slots.
The county and the developers will now have to take extra caution and adhere to the new measures to mitigate the negative social and environmental impacts that have resulted in the project being classified as high risk.
The devolved unit has already gone through a chaotic phase of getting buy-in from the previous tenants that had to agree to move so that the old units could be demolished to pave way for the new project.
The consultants undertaking the environmental and social impact assessment have classified the project as high risk and recommended to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to give the contractors a conditional Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The classification is in line with a legal notice published by the Ministry of Environment in 2016.
The notice requires projects that are “out of character” with their surroundings or ones that bring about major changes in land use be classified as high risk.
Such projects are placed under heavy scrutiny by environmental management agencies, especially NEMA.
The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report noted that the scoping exercise acknowledged that the project’s potential impact on the natural environment and human environment is significant but can be addressed and mitigated as described in the report.
The private-public partnership project, in which the county government has given land, was previously occupied by old and dilapidated houses, which have since been brought down.
