Developers on Rhapta Road can proceed with 16-floor constructions pending review of development policy, the lands court has ruled.
The residents had complained about the construction.
The Rhapta Road Residents’ Association, led by Claire Anami, had accused the county of randomly issuing development permits.
The developers then put up structures whose floor numbers exceeded the four stipulated in the existing city development masterplan, the residents argued.
The masterplan was ratified by the county assembly in 2016 and remains in force.
However, Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration has been pushing for a review of the policy.
“This court has held that the suit properties are within Zone 4B, otherwise known as ‘Muthangari’, as per the 2021 unapproved Nairobi County Development Control Policy,” the decision says.
“The court has further held that until the county assembly of Nairobi amends the policy to state otherwise, the allowable height of all developments within zone 4B is 16 levels, with a maximum ground coverage of 75 per cent.”
He says the county’s landmass inot increasing while the population demanding shelter is bulging, hence the need to allow more floors towards the sky.
Citing the county’s approval, the court said it would be imprudent to order for demolition, considering the cost involved in the development.
This comes as the latest Controller of Budgets report shows that revenue from building permits has surpassed collection from parking fees, indicating the aggressive nature of issuance of the documents by the Sakaja City Hall.
In the Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Master Plan (Niuplan) published in December 2014, the complainants’ residences and properties in the prime area was put in Zone 4, which restricted buildings to only four floors.
The Evans Kidero-era masterplan was a review of the 2004 development policy published by then Nairobi City Council as ‘A Guide of Nairobi City Development Ordinances and Zones’, which also allowed only four floors. In this respect, the Nairobi Development Control Policy 2021 was developed and it reviewed the zones, putting Rhapta Road in Zone 4b as part of Muthangari.
The zone is defined as located between Waiyaki Way, Riverside Drive, Ring Road Westlands and Mahiga Mairu Avenue.
City Hall has been issuing permits based on the proposed policy, which has yet to be ratified in the assembly to assume the force of law.
Residents faulted Sakaja’s administration for actions based on the proposed policy.
“The county government is presiding over unplanned and uncoordinated urban growth, inadequate infrastructure, deterioration of the urban environment and increasing poverty,” they said.