• NMS director-general Mohammed Badi assured city residents on Tuesday that the implementation of the Mukuru Redevelopment Plan was on course.
• Kibira, Mathare and Korogocho will also be gazetted as special planning areas later this year
The sprawling Mukuru informal settlement is set to get access roads, water and health facilities in an upgrade overseen by the Nairobi Metropolitan Service.
The settlement covers 689 acres and houses about 400,000 residents in squalid conditions.
NMS director-general Mohammed Badi assured city residents on Tuesday that the implementation of the Mukuru Redevelopment Plan was on course.
He spoke during a public forum also attended by High Commissioner of Canada Lisa Stadelbauer and International Development Research Centre's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Kathryn Toure.
"Water pipes and sanitation lines in Mukuru Kwa Reuben will be complete by the end of the month," Badi said. The project had been gazetted but time had elapsed, he said.
"We have renewed it for two years so that we can develop without hindrance. Kibera, Mathare and Korogocho will also be gazetted as special planning areas later this year," Badi said.
The NMS boss said 440 kilometres of roads will be constructed in the remaining three settlements. Water and sewerage will also be addressed.
"This will start by March and by March 2022, no slum will be without roads, sewer line and water," he said.
Badi said roads in Kwa Reuben are almost complete having done 21 kilometres. They are to be commissioned by the end of the month.
The NMS encountered few challenges after some of those with structures in the settlements moved to court. "But since we have gazetted, they have no choice but to comply. We are however waiting for court battles," Badi said.
The director-general said the owners claim that they have stayed in the land for over 20 years hence should be given title deeds.
"The land will be repossessed by the government. It is not as easy as they are powerful. However, we have occupied and we do not intend to leave," he said.
Badi said youths from the informal settlements have been involved in garbage collection.
The development is the result of years of waiting for several residents who call Mukuru home.
In 2011, they were being evicted from their one-room shacks made of rusted corrugated iron sheet homes in great numbers.
Fearful, residents approached some NGOs to petition the Nairobi City to designate the area as a special planning area.
For several years, Akiba Mashinani Trust and a consortium of over 40 organisations, have been leading efforts to support residents to improve their living conditions.
Canada through the International Development Research Centre has also supported two rounds of research since 2012.
The research sought to identify practical knowledge and solutions to a host of challenges related to informal land tenure, governance and human rights related to access to basic services.
The rounds of research have resulted in the development of an integrated plan to redevelop Mukuru.
In August 2017, the Nairobi City County (NCC) officially declared Mukuru a Special Planning Area (SPA) – putting a stop to any further development in the area for a two-year period until a Mukuru Integrated Development Plan is produced.
The integrated development plan is now informing the government’s ongoing largest urban upgrading effort.
The Mukuru Social Housing Project will be undertaken jointly by the government and private investors.
Badi said NMS has a dedicated budget to ensure that all roads within the settlements are tarmacked.
He said the estimated budget for almost 45 kilometres of road in Mukuru, water pipes, sewer pipes, and electricity is Sh4 billion.
Badi said a level 3 hospital is set to be constructed and equipped to complement Catholic-run health facility in the area.
"The contractor is already on the site. In the next two months, the hospital will be completed, equipped and manned by health personnel," he said.
Badi said the illegal water connection has become a thing of the past after water pipes, as well as boreholes, were laid.
This was done with help from the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company.
"We have also dug boreholes in all of Mukuru to provide free and safe water," he said adding that streets lights are on course.
Badi said once they are done with water, sanitation, roads, affordable housing project will start.
He said Guinea pig projects where residents will stay as the project start have been built.