By NICHOLAS WAITATHU
More investors are expected to spread their wealth across the counties following classification of the urban centres. This is expected to strengthen urbanisation.
Cities, municipalities and town councils have been classified afresh while others remain unclassified as provided for in the Urban Areas and Cities Act 2011.
Transition Authority (TA) Chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi in a telephone interview said all the urban centres will start afresh regardless of whether or not they were formally created. “We are commissioning a study soon that, after collecting views from Kenyans, will recommend how urban centres in the country can be managed in future,” he said.
Wamwangi also warned county governments against instituting municipal boards and town committees or appointing municipal managers and town administrators without following the law.
More than 30 per cent of Kenyans live in urban areas. The figure is slightly above the East African community average, but below the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 40 per cent and the world — 50 per cent.
The World Bank, in an earlier publication, claims that every year some 250,000 Kenyans move to cities and formerly rural areas are becoming increasingly urban.
Land consultant Mwenda Makathimo, in a telephone interview, stated that the assessment and classification of urban areas and cities is meant to give urbanisation a new meaning.
Increased urbanisation
“We expect new management in the urban centres as provided for in the Urban Areas Cities Act 2011. The management of new urban centres will develop plans for growth to attract resources locally and internationally,” he said.
Most urban centres in the country lack proper master plans, which has led to lopsided growth and management. Makathimo said the new urban areas and cities must employ integrated development plans as provided for by law. “We expect there will be new management which is a key component to sound growth and attraction of investment,” he added.
“It should be noted that 38 former municipal councils will be downgraded to townships, 36 formerly unclassified urban centres will qualify for classification as townships while one former municipal council, Karatina, and one town council, Wote, would be declassified,” Wamwangi stated.
Kenya now has three cities (Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu) two municipalities (Nakuru and Eldoret); 130 townships and 80 unclassified urban centres.
A team constituted by TA revealed that most urban areas have in the last three financial years been heavily depended on the central government.
