Hawkers to be allocated space in Sakaja’s city makeover plan

Plans are in the final stage to give Nairobi a new look, a transformation from the unkempt buildings, congested pavements and general disorder.

The Nairobi County Government is leaving nothing to chance while implementing Governor Johnson Sakaja’s clarion call of making Nairobi work.

Already, the Governor has constituted a multi-sectoral team working to find alternative areas for hawkers so that the CBD decongestion plans do not unnecessarily disrupt their businesses.

On Wednesday, Sakaja said the multi-sectoral panel inspected various lanes in the lower CBD and has started demarcation works as well as clearing dirt in the areas to make them habitable for trade.

“Nairobi City County government has initiated the process of relocating informal traders operating within the Central Business District to the backstreet lanes,” he said. “This morning, a multi-sectoral committee team inspected Turkana lane near the bus station, which is currently undergoing paint works.”

He explained that ten lanes which will serve as prototypes in the decongestion plan will have sheds erected and electricity installed to improve the working conditions of the traders.

And yesterday, the county government’s environment and public health departments met with tenants, business owners and landlords who own buildings in the lower CBD to urge them to finalise repainting and renovating buildings in ten days when the “rapid results initiative” period expires.

During the three months period the initiative has been running, landlords are required to fix their buildings in line with city by-laws that govern house maintenance by ensuring that they are safe and attain good public health standards.

The county officials assured the landlords and tenants that the county government plans to relocate about 6,000 hawkers to back lanes in the lower CBD in the next three months.

Nairobi Director of Environmental Health Margaret Sunguti said the county government is working towards the completion of modern shades in ten back lanes to host hawkers in a bid to decongest main streets and ensure fair business competition and coexistence between hawkers and shop owners.

“These streets will be self-contained spaces with access to safe drinking water and toilets which will be allocated to hawkers,” said Sunguti.

A spot check by People Daily found out metal bars have been put a long Sotik Lane in the River Road area awaiting the roofing material to be erected.

A single space measures approximately 1.5 metres square and the entire lane has been painted green and yellow – Nairobi county’s official colours – on the adjacent wall.

Paul Nzioki, who operates near Sotik Lane, was using the roof racks to hang his second-hand clothes.
He said that he had not been allocated the space and was taking advantage of the new structure to display his goods.

But the landlords are demanding more from Sakaja whom they accuse of doing too little to match the land rates and other levies they pay to his government.

They want Sakaja to address the matatus and hawkers menace which they have blamed for giving Nairobi an ugly face.

The house owners want all Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) to switch off their engines when parked outside their buildings, saying they emit black smoke which distorts the aesthetics of their buildings even when the painting is still fresh.

Landlords said that hotels and lodgings which are close to bus stops are losing business due to noise pollution from hooting, touting and loud music from matatus.

They said that the county government has failed to enforce the placement of trash cans inside matatus saying that when passengers alight they dump garbage at their doorstep.

“Our building is a hotel that offers accommodation and over time, one wing that borders a matatu stage is always unoccupied because even late at night the noise from matatus and touts is unbearable,” a landlord said.

Business owners decried the allocation of lanes to matatus as drop-off and picking points saying they are left with no loading zones thus creating a conflict of interest.

During the meeting, landlords narrated how their houses have been vacated because tenants are unable to pay rent due to competition from hawkers.

The street vendors, the landlords said, occupy every empty space on the corridor blocking customers from entering shops and sometimes selling the same merchandise as the shops.

According to county officials, poorly maintained houses are putting city residents at risk of contracting communicable diseases and are creating a conducive environment for parasites like cockroaches and bedbugs to breed.

Starehe Public Health officer Patricia Mwangi told landlords that the county government envisages a city with neat houses which are well-painted and free from cracks and leaking roofs.

Mwangi urged landlords to invest in painting their houses with quality paint that peels off quickly, sometimes in under six months.

“Do not use cheap paints because the house will look dilapidated soon after, thus devaluing it,” Mwangi said.

She said that moving forward the county will embrace dialogue to settle house-related disputes away from court cases and harassment by county police.

“We want a situation whereby landlords renovate houses voluntarily without being coerced by the enforcement department. After this phase, we will inspect the inside of these houses to ensure they are safe as well and meaningful maintenance has been done,” she added.