Public participation on urban renewal and regeneration policy
The public participation on Urban Renewal and Regeneration Policy for Nairobi County is happening today at Charter Hall, City Hall building. The event was expected to start from 10:30 am but we are yet to start.
This is a public policy which will dictate how the city renews the decaying county housing estates such as Kariokor, Kaloleni, Bahati and Pangani among others.
The last time the state built serious public housing units was way back in 1960s before independence.
During the colonial times Africans were not expected to live in the city unless they were working there. The then colonial government prohibited rural-urban migration.
Later on the city was segregated into three sections. There was a region for Europeans (colonial masters), Asians occupied areas such as Eastleigh and Africans dominated Pumwani, Kariokor among other estates.
The African areas were known for poor service delivery. There was inadequate water, power and other basic amenities.
When Africans took over after independence the challenges of rural-urban migration entered center stage. More and more Kenyans left their rural homes in search of green pasture in Kenya’ capital city, Nairobi.
The rural urban-migration has remained a challenge for all city government’s since independence in 1964.
Let’s have hope that this new policy will liberate Nairobians from the shackles of decaying building and revive the green city under the sun” dream.
