City estates earmarked for facelift
Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) yesterday announced plans to refurbish 10 old estates starting next month.
The estates are Bahati, Maringo, Jericho, Lumumba, Bondeni, Ziwani, Embakasi, California, Kariobangi North and Woodley.
NMS Director General Mohammed Badi said the exercise is part of the government’s plan to offer better housing to Nairobians through the Affordable Housing Programme.
“Everything is set and we are ready to hit the road running. We have done a lot of forums on the ground. We expect that by next month contractors will start the work,” he said.
Early this year, NMS announced it will put up about 62,000 units in high- rise buildings for rent or sale in Eastlands in phase II of urban renewal.
NMS boss Badi said a second public participation would be held with tenants of the 10 estates before construction begins. NMS City Hall held the first public participation in February.
Second series
“Our people have done public participation and it was successful. There will be a second series of public participation and after that we will start issuing out the awards for the contractors,” Badi added.
Compensation will be announced later. The second phase is part of a public-private partnership project.
The new structures will be six to 16 stories, with one, two and three-bedroom units.
Lumumba Estate will have 10,000 units, 8,000 units in Maringo 1,500 in Kariobangi North and 4,000 in Embakasi.
The Bahati Estate project will have 12,000 units in high-density buildings to replace bungalows on 50 acres.
