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{
    "id": 769092,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/769092/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 198,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, the challenges we have are not only in Nairobi. Many years ago, towns like Eldoret, Thika and Kisumu were very well planned, but they have also lost that glory. I did my research for my Masters on the sewage works on Sosian River. So, to bring back the glory of our cities and make planning serious, we need to adopt this Policy Paper. When the necessary legislations are brought, the Committee on transport and urban planning will deal with it. If we wait for the Ministry it might take long. Therefore, we challenge the Members here to come up with specific Bills that can legislate on this. As it is today, there is a lot of disconnect between people who do various things in our cities. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation does its own things and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company does its own things. We were doing some repair works on Uhuru Highway and it was impossible to know where the services were; the water pipes, electricity and telephones. It was actually a nightmare. All these services come under the County of Nairobi, but some are done by the national Government. Therefore it is important that services in urban areas are properly harmonized. Urban physical policy and local development is also very important. Sometimes Kenyans clamour for land and fight for space. We do not want to see any free space. When we were at the University, Lavington was a special area for rich people. We used to go around the shopping centre and there used to be a big field, which does not exist now. Areas like South C and Eastleigh were for the middle class. Right now there is no proper planning in terms of sewerage system or water supply. This policy is here at the right time and we, as leaders and citizens of this country, must support it. If we do not deal with this menace, every town that comes up will be chaotic. In fact, you cannot separate Industrial Area from the residential areas and Commercial Area from a residential areas; everything is mixed up. Madam Temporary Speaker, Westlands was at one time a satellite city and you would not need to come to town if you were living in that part of the city. Unfortunately, there is no space now. Therefore, it is time we freed some space and became very brave to deal with our infrastructure in town. We need to construct tunnels to deal with the traffic jams. What is stopping us is the inability to compulsorily acquire properties that were being acquired in the right way to enable the building of our infrastructure. As you go to Upper Hill or Kilimani you can rest assured that there is inadequate water supply. They could be getting water from the water bowsers. They are not on public water pipes and sewer lines. The same applies to many other places. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is high time that whatever we think as a country, we have a Metropolitan Urban Directorate. You can see the heading of this thing but that idea of a metropolitan at one time was a Ministry. The whole idea is to plan areas from Thika all the way to Kajiado as one planning area. However, the thing has never taken place. I urge that this Policy be passed and we spearhead how to make legislation so that we actually bring some sense into our planning and make our cities and urban centres to be economically, socially and environmentally viable so that people can live in healthy environments and enjoy their peace in a very well planned area. With those very many remarks, I beg to support."
}