RHAPTA ROAD RESIDENTS LAUNCH AN ASSOCIATION.
BY VICTORIA MOVINE
Rhapta Road residents have launched an association— Rhapta Road Residents Association, to advocate for the community's rights, especially in the war against what they termed as illegal and unauthorized high-rise developments.
The residents, who have formed the association said that the current zoning classification of the area does not permit developments of more than 35% ground coverage and also restricts the number of floors in a building or the height.
Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai, who was present at the launch of the Rhapta Road Residents Association at St. Austins Church assured the area residents that he has advocated for their cause in the county assembly.
“I think we can make this city better by having a plan. These people are building beacon to beacon, you can’t expand the roads. So yesterday I gave a notice for the motion at the Nairobi City County Assembly that the Executive must develop a plan to deploy in phases an integrated transport management system,” said MCA Alai.
According to the MCA, Kileleshwa sub-county has been facing electricity supply problems and a spike in insecurity, while Rhapta Road has become unsafe due to increased theft, armed attacks and deaths attributed to accidents in the ongoing construction of high-rise buildings.
“The electricity we have now, in some areas like Gichuru road you’ll find the power is going off every time. Engineer Kariuki and his team will tell you I call them every day telling them what is happening, how can you ensure that there is power stability?” Alai said.
The residents have also expressed their concerns on water shortage, noise and water pollution which will be worse if more people move into the proposed high-rise buildings.
“We get water supply once a week, and these developers say they will be having boreholes. How long can the ground water supply be able to sustain unplanned structures being built up? The authorities say the infrastructure will come afterwards, when will it even happen? After 5, 10 years? Because planning of that infrastructure takes time,” said Dr. Raj Vaghella, a resident in his remarks.
David Stanson, also a resident addressed, “There have been insecurity worries in terms of theft from people who have been walking down Rhapta Road by motorbike riders. There have been burglaries, armed attacks in the past, that’s been going on for several years but there seems to be an escalation in the risks at the moment and that’s why the Residents Association has been formed.”
The Rhapta residents now hope the formation of this association will yield positive results hoping that the government will intervene to meet a resolution.
Comments
Post a Comment