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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, urban development policy is critical in this country. Why is it so? We as Kenyans are really ashamed of how our city or would-be cities are planned. Most of the times we get the opportunity to travel, as leaders, and when you compare what is in those other jurisdictions and what is in this country, it is a big shame. Sometimes I even wonder; as much as we pride ourselves a lot as being the gateway of Africa and having the City in the Sun, what is it that people find interesting when they come to visit us? It is not because there is nothing here, but maybe because in their own imagination, they think that this is a third world country and, therefore, there is nothing much to see. A city like Nairobi that is full of dirt, congestion and substandard housing that has led to the loss of lives. If we started to describe how we see our cities, we can write pages and pages of it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this policy for me has come at the right time to serve two purposes. First, we are increasingly becoming urbanized as a country. Looking at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country, I think about 60 per cent, if I get the statistics right, is domiciled within the greater Nairobi area. So, that means that if we want to increase the total factor of productivity of this country, then we have to look at how the city is functioning. We have got to ensure that this country is governed properly by the way in which our national capital is administered. This has to start with the provision of services by the Nairobi City County Government and, indeed, the various national headquarters of Ministries, Departments and agencies that also reside here in Nairobi. Therefore, to situate the problem of urban development is to ensure that we also grow our economy. That is the first aspect that, for me, I see is to model a city that would be replicated in Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret, Thika and other emergent cities. The other aspect that is important is also to build a new Kenya. We have the opportunity of doing away with all that which we have got wrong using the Lamu Port and Southern Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor. I believe that the LAPSSET Corridor provides us with an opportunity to ensure that this policy is not just another piece of paper or document. When we are constructing the berth there – and I am happy that three of them are already coming to a completion – the rail, pipeline and, of course, the roads so that, then, we can open up the northern side of Kenya. We can also tap into the southern part of Ethiopia, where about 40 million people reside; basically that is a new country. I am very happy that within the LAPSSET Corridor, about 500 metres of land has been set aside for that so that we can then tap into the newly discovered natural resources like gas in Lamu County and oil, which must obviously be there because there is oil in Somalia; there is also the transportation of oil from Turkana and coal from the Mui Basin in Kitui County. So, yes, this is not an exercise in futility. It is an opportunity to ensure that this country is able to truly occupy itself as an emerging middle income economy since we are now at the lower middle income state. But I believe that if we are to properly implement this urban development policy with regard to the LAPSSET Corridor project, then we will even expand our GDP between three to eight per cent in the medium term. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, Sir, some of the issues that are being addressed here in terms of the urban economy need to be looked at very seriously. This policy would The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}