Experts blame Nairobi's perenial flood crisis on planning failures

Poor leadership, planning failures and corruption have been identified as the key drivers of the perennial flooding crisis in Nairobi.

Urban planning experts maintain the destruction witnessed on Friday was not just a result of extreme weather, but a pointer to years of weak governance. 

“Nairobi is not lacking in technical skills at all. I think what we seem to have is a perennial leadership problem. Nairobi’s problem has always been its governance,” said urban planning expert Patrick Adolwa.

According to Adolwa, the city already has several development strategies and plans meant to guide its growth. But leaders have repeatedly failed to implement them.

“Nairobi has a master plan. It has a climate action plan and all other development strategies. But what is the point of making plans that we cannot implement and follow them through?” he posed.

Adolwa says Nairobi is not lacking in technical expertise or information, but rather in leadership that prioritises public interests. 

He argues that political leaders often prioritise high profile projects while ignoring critical infrastructure needed to protect residents.

According to Omwenga Mairura, a civil engineer and chairman of the Town and County Planners Association of Kenya, Nairobi‘s infrastructure has not kept pace with the rapid growth of the city, leaving the drainage system overwhelmed whenever there are heavy rains.

“The last serious investment that was done for the drainage in the city was actually in the 1970s. Since then, we have not had any serious investment in improving and expanding our drainage system,” Omwenga said.

Speaking in a TV interview on Sunday, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said the county needs about Sh25 billion to do a massive drainage system overhaul.

But Omwenga downplayed the statement arguing that the current crisis is not solely as a result of resources but poor governance and corruption.

“To a large extent, our primary failure is failing to plan adequately. It may not always be lack of resources but failing to plan,” he said.

He noted that the drainage system cannot support the rapid development and urbanisation in Kenya’s capital adding that as buildings, roads and paved surfaces continue to increase, less rainwater is absorbed into the ground, leading to more runoff that overwhelms the drainage systems.

“We have been developing, growing with more housing development, more industries, and more people, but the supportive infrastructure such as water supply, sewage, and storm water drainage has not been improved. Therefore, there is a serious mismatch in terms of development planning,” argued Omwenga.

He expressed concern that many roads and development in the city are constructed without adequate drainage infrastructure, leading to flooding whenever heavy rains occur.

He particularly pointed out the beautification project that includes paving the streets in the city, an undertaking that has significantly contributed to increased surface runoff.

High-rise buildings

“If the roads that we have developed do not have adequate storm water drain, then that water will accumulate on the roads and wash away our vehicles and sweep us away. When you fail to include drainage as part of road development, that is actually the beginning of the end of the road,” he said.

Omwenga emphasised that the massive high-rise buildings, including the affordable housing projects, could further strain the existing infrastructure if nothing is done.

He explained that in many neighbourhoods, high-rise buildings have replaced single-family homes without upgrading the supporting infrastructure.

“We have allowed buildings to come up in areas where we used to have only one housing unit on half an acre of land,” he noted, adding:

“That means a household on average had four to five people. But now you have knocked down that single-family housing and you have got 400 housing units in flats. That means there are about 2,000 people who have come to live on that space where initially, there were only one household,” he added.

He, however, noted that infrastructure has remained the same despite the population increase.

“Even with the 2000 people, you will find that water supply has not been upgraded. It is the same half-inch pipe that was there from the 1970s. Similarly, the sewerage system has also not been expanded to accommodate the increased population,” said Omwenga, adding that such mismatch between development and infrastructure has worsened flooding across the city.

Omwenga also pointed to widespread encroachment on rivers and wetlands which are supposed to act as natural drainage systems.

He said riparian reserves are protected by law but enforcement has been weak.

“In many instances, we have failed to observe these riparian reserves. There is massive encroachment along Nairobi, Ngong, Mathare and Ruaka rivers, and that seems to be the norm,” he said.

Omwenga blamed the situation largely on corruption among the county officials and weak enforcement by authorities.

“People are not supposed to build less than 10 metres from a riparian reserve. But you find massive development going on there. When you ask, they tell you they have approvals from the county government. Floodwaters are not bad at all because it is this water that eventually feeds our streams, rivers, dams and lakes. But if you do not adequately plan and handle that surface runoff safely to the rivers and the ocean, it causes destruction and deaths,” stated Omwenga.

According to Omwenga, addressing the crisis will demand leaders and officials to take personal responsibility for planning failures and unlawful developments.

“I think it is high time people were held personally responsible and accountable. Those who approve those developments must be held personally responsible,” he said.

He maintains that authorities tasked with approving and regulating developments must be held to account when buildings are allowed in restricted areas such as riverbanks and wetlands.

The three main rivers cutting across the city: Mathare, Nairobi and Ngong, he says, should have a riparian restriction of between 10 and 30 metres.

The reality on the ground, however, shows that residential and commercial buildings are constructed less than 10 meters away from the rivers.

Adolwa says the crisis is a reflection of governance failures in the management of the city. He says failure to invest in proper drainage systems could expose large sections of Nairobi County to more severe flooding.

He echoed the need for a new drainage system master plan that should be implemented as a matter of urgency as Nairobi’s rapid development has not respected the city’s natural environment.

“Without the plan, the whole of South B area, South C and Eastland areas are going to sink,” he warned.