Faceless developers have grabbed more than 2,000 acres of riparian reserves in Nairobi, jeopardising efforts to conserve rivers and making the city susceptible to flooding. City Hall says the developers have erected permanent structures on river banks, obstructing the natural flow of the streams.
“It is a big problem we face. Some developers have built on top of rivers and that is why we experience flooding and collapse of buildings during rainy seasons,” Lands executive Christopher Khaemba said.
He said some landlords are discharging raw sewage from their estates into the rivers, while others dump waste, polluting and silting the water bodies.
Ironically, Khaemba said some of the developments were sanctioned by government agencies, which are supposed to ensure such areas are protected.
“We have ascertained that some of these buildings actually got approval from us (the now-defunct City Council), the National Environmental Management Authority and even the Water Resource Management Authority,” he said.
Speaking to the Star at City Hall on Friday, Khaemba said some of the grabbers are influential politicians and government officials “protected by the system”.
“People think we are doing nothing to save the situation, but that is not the case. Some of these issues are big,” he said.
Khaemba cited a storey building opposite T-Mall on Lang’ata Road, which he said has got all the approvals, yet it stands on a river bank. Attempts by the county to bring it down have been thwarted, he said.
Last year, MCAs ordered the building demolished, terming it a disaster in waiting. In 2015, the building was blamed for flooding in parts of South C and Nairobi West.