Environmentalists and members of the business community in Naivasha have challenged the organisers of this year’s World Rally Championship (WRC) to fully involve them in the planning.

Five months to the event, they noted that last year’s event in the lakeside town was taken over by outsiders leading to a fallout with the locals.

Their representatives the global event would be more successful if all the stakeholders including the county government are fully involved in the preparations.

According to the proposed itinerary from WRC, the rally is expected to kick off on June 23rd with a shakedown in Loldia before ending on Sunday the26th in Hell’s Gate National Park.

Naivasha deputy county commissioner Mutua Kisilu confirmed that preparations for the rally have kicked off with the advance team on the ground.

“The advance team is going through the routes that the rally cars will use and this is part of the engagement ahead of the global event that will attract many,” he said on Tuesday.

He admitted that the first edition which was held last year had its challenges, saying this would be addressed this time round.

“The rally was coming back to the country after many years and some people felt that they were left out but I am sure that this time things will be different.

The chairman of Friends of Lake Naivasha Francis Muthui noted that the rally was a game changer in terms of investment and job opportunities for locals.

He, however, challenged the organisers to include local environmental groups in the planning as they were locked out last year.

He said the event left millions of shillings in the country but also environmental degradation on some of the routes, the spectators’ viewing points and in the Hell’s Gate National Park.

“We welcome the world event to Naivasha once again and we hope that issues of environmental conservation will be addressed by the organisers,” he said.

Crazy traffic 

An entrepreneur, John Kiraguri, called on the organisers to address the issue of traffic as this was a major challenge during the last event.

“We are fully behind this global event but the organisers should keep the rally cars away from major roads to avoid the crazy traffic jams like those observed in the previous event,” he said.

He said that some of the major roads including the Nairobi-Nakuru highway were closed for hours adversely inconveniencing hundreds of motorists.

“This is a major event that requires better planning and the organisers should include hoteliers, traders, youth groups and even environmentalists in their planning meetings,” he said.