Traffic jams in Nairobi are costing the County an estimated Ksh 50 million daily, a top industry executive said at a Governors Round Table held in Nairobi today. Over 12 Business membership organisations including the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Petroleum Institute of East Africa, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce, Kenya Private Sector Alliance and Kenya National Farmers Federation attended the forum to discuss ways in which the County Government can work with the private sector to grow the economy of the county. Over 150 representatives from Business Membership Organisations (BMOs) were present.
Deputy Governor of Nairobi, Mr. Mueke said that plans and projects were underway to turn around the dismal performance of the county which has dogged it in various aspects. Last year, the capital city was ranked 6th in terms of growth potential in Africa and in a global World Bank ranking the city was placed at 166 out of 183 in terms of doing business. He added that poor infrastructure and governance had led to various bottlenecks including traffic jams whose economic cost has been estimated to be Kshs. 50 million per day.
The business community raised issues concerning public participation and asked the county government to incorporate stakeholders input into the development and formulation of County laws, security, tax harmonisation between counties, service delivery and land use and management issues which were hurting business operations and the overall cost of doing business in the county.
Mr. Polycarp Igathe, Chairman of KAM said the forum was a platform for the private sector to suggest solutions. “This forum is a sign that Nairobi is off to a good start and the business coalition has proven that power is not the narcotic of choice in Kenya and that we can work together,” he said.
He added that the business community in Nairobi is committed to contributing to the Nairobi Trust Fund to augment the funding for some county projects.
Mr. Mueke admitted that the current business licensing program is lengthy, cumbersome and inconvenient saying: “We are working on decentralising all wards and sub counties. 18 months from today we will have completed the automation of Nairobi City County so that you do not need to come to the city council to get licenses.” He added that automation of the county’s financial system would enable the county to raise funds using other outlets. “This will increase our credit worthiness. Our budget this year is about 24 billion shillings. We need nearly 1 trillion shillings to change the face of this city,” he said.
Mr. Mueke also spoke of a surveillance program in the city which would increase security including a project to upgrade the current lighting in the city. “We have two challenges; vandalism and maintenance. The street lighting plan is being worked on so that we prioritise how to light all our streets and neighbourhoods. Once you light up the city, security increases by 50 percent and there is also a CCTV program where we will put up 42 cameras in the CBD,” he added. Security issues are important both for business and for residents. The current city's population is approximately 3.138 million with 2 million living in slums where crime rates are high. By 2030, it is projected that Nairobi’s population will be 5.21 million.
The county also intends to implement a new integrated master plan which should be in place by April 2014. “We are not just looking at building control, but we are going to integrate our power and telecommunication, our water and sewer system, all the road reserves and wayleaves, so that we don’t have people grabbing land or road reserves,” said Mr. Mueke. According to him, the last city master plan was scheduled for use from 1976 to 2000 and the city has been developing for 13 years without a plan. He cited the example of new telecommunication companies seeking permission to lay down fibre optics cables were disrupting existing infrastructure and integrating these services into the master plan would solve such problems.
The county executive has also worked on improving waste management: “Everybody generates at least half a kilo of waste and when we started we were only collecting 39% of it but we have just passed the 55 % mark,” said the deputy governor.
KAM has so far organised six Governors round table for counties that include Nairobi, Mombasa, KIambu, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nakuru and the next Governors round table will for Machakos County.