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{
    "id": 603323,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/603323/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 202,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Shaban",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 139,
        "legal_name": "Naomi Namsi Shaban",
        "slug": "naomi-shaban"
    },
    "content": "passed the new Constitution so that as the county governments came into place, they should have found this law in place. As we go around Kenya, we see that most of our areas are not properly planned. Because they were not properly planned, we see all these problems of town planning where towns are mushrooming everywhere. Apart from mushrooming everywhere, the towns are not planned at all and you find some semblance of slums coming up in the name of trading centres. When the City of Nairobi was being planned in the 60s at post-Independence, people did not think of the kind of population that we have right now. They did not think about the kind of development which has come up in Nairobi. As a matter of urgency, so many things need to be done. It is going to be a very costly affair to correct the mistakes and even buildings which have come up in areas where they should not be. The menace of floods and the problems of climate change we are faced with are because of a city which was not properly planned. As a matter of urgency, so many things need to be done. It is going to be a very costly affair to correct the mistakes which are there, and even correct the issue of buildings which have come up in areas where they should not have come up. We can see even the menace of floods and we are facing all these problems of climate change. This is because of a city which was not properly planned. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we travel all over the world and we have seen very well planned cities. Kenya should have had these laws in place. I know there are quite a number of Acts which were governing town planning, but people were not thinking of population and the kind of development boom that we have had in our country. In the process, we have a big problem which we need to solve. In this Bill, there is some harmonisation of how the national Government is going to work with county governments. Planning has been put squarely in the hands of county governments, because they are the ones who are right at the grassroots. They should be spearheading development plans and physical planning of all the areas. When we travel to other countries, we see satellite cities. I know that this is one of the issues that has been talked about in the Vision 2030 and it is being implemented although at a very slow pace. I believe that, that requires to be carried on board, so that we shall not only realise the Vision 2030 and not only be in the Mid-Term Plan, but it shall be for the good and the future of this country and for posterity. Every day, we hear about disasters. Buildings are coming down because proper plans have not been approved, and even when they were approved, some shortcuts were taken. I know we have had quite a number of laws in the past, but with this law in place, we should be able to deal with the issue of having properly planned construction of buildings which have been approved. People should meet the standards. It is not enough for us to just have the development plans in place. It has to go hand in hand with departments in the counties and departments at the national level to make sure that standards are being maintained and followed. Basically, our main problem, even in terms of buildings which are not well constructed and areas which are not well taken care of is because of lack of follow up. The teams which are supposed to be working on this have slept on their job. They are not following these plans. The preservation of heritage sites has been mentioned in this Bill. Buildings which have been there from the colonial times up to the post-Independence should have been kept and maintained under the Museums and National Heritage departments as heritage sites. When The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}