Mombasa signs deal with energy firm to ensure green buildings

Mombasa residents will start enjoying serene environment, lower cost of utilities and a general low cost of living after a deal between the county and a green sustainability organisation.

The county government on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kenya Green Building Society to ensure new buildings coming up in Mombasa adhere to green policies that ensure sustainability in terms of clean energy and environment usage.

“We are really hoping to position Mombasa as a leader in the sustainability conversation so that Mombasa can be known as the ‘green city by the ocean’,” KGBS chief executive Nasra Nanda said.

The MoU entails building capacity of the county staff and stakeholders so as to unlock not only green professionals, but also green jobs.

Currently, the county is doing an energy audit of seven of its public buildings so as to understand how much energy the buildings consume and whether the energy is clean with a view to upgrading the same to green energy.

“In particular, our first objective is to make the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital East Africa’s first green government hospital,” Nanda said.

Lands executive Hussein ‘Amadow’ Mohamed said the assessment on the seven public buildings will determine the next course of action.

“We will be looking at such kind of things as the energy being utilised. Could it be converted to solar or use a less intense energy source? The taps used in the buildings, are they water saving? What is the kind of waste management that has been adopted? Is it efficient?” Amadow said.

The county executive said if measures are taken to ensure the green policies are adopted, there would be a reduction of cost of power, cost of water and the utility bills.

This will make the CGTRH more efficient and will in turn free up funds for more drugs or even help in subsidising the services.

“This will also help secure the health of Mombasa residents,” Amadow said.

KGBS is pushing for green laws in Mombasa that can guide the green sustainability equation when putting up buildings.

Once the laws are in place, Mombasa can benefit from billions of shillings from the funds. 

“That can only happen if Mombasa has green policies in the built environment, has adopted the Climate Change Management Act at the county level so that they can access FLLoCA funds, and also attract the necessary partners such the World Bank, Africa Development Bank and others,” Nanda said.

KGBS will be working with the World Bank through its arm the International Finance Corporation, National Housing Corporation and Development Financial Institutions, among others.

“They will be identifying the assets that can be assessed and potentially subject for green financing,” he said. 

Emily Achieng, the Natural Resources and Climate Change Resilience executive, said the top three carbon emitters in the county are transport, waste and the building sectors.

Different initiatives in the transport and waste sectors have been started to ensure reduced emissions.

“Today, we are focusing on built environment. There is a rapid change in terms of transitioning from the Swahili-type of house to high rise buildings in Mombasa because of the population. Therefore, we want to ensure that as we build, we consider green buildings,” Achieng said.

Already, the Old Town architecture design has in mind Mombasa's climatic conditions, including lighting, ventilation, water and energy.

“Therefore, the KGBS brings in the expertise, we bring the workforce and we also want to orientate the students in colleges so that we move together as a unit and see how we can implement the action in the action plan before 2050,” the executive said.

She said this will take place with the affordable housing projects in Mzizima, Likoni and Changamwe in mind.

Amadow said the different experts involved in the project means the houses will be firm, environmental friendly, energy efficient and cost saving.

“We also will have to sensitise the public on the benefits of such actions we are taking,” he said.