Kimana Town – The Growing Metropolis South of Kajiado

Kimana is really growing at an alarming rate. Over the past few years, Kimana has attracted quite a big population from outside Kajiado South with a good number of investors settling in thick and fast. This has truly fast tracked a significant growth in terms of economy and human resource making Kimana the De Facto Constituency Industrial Development Center (CIDC). This means that Kimana is actually the economic Hub for Kajiado South constituency from all fronts.

Having said that, this particular growth and status comes along with big responsibilities, it means that, there is almost an urgent call to the local leadership and authority to lay down a proper urban planning for this town center before it becomes chaotic and unbearable due to several factors that comes along with growth including overpopulation and poor basic structures, a proper urban planning of Kimana town will bring among other things order and Vision, Illasit Taveta Road being a huge prospect in Kajiado South will probably see Kimana realize it’s full potential in the arena of a well thought-out plan.

Daniel Njuguna

As a matter of urgency, the current MCA must be able to sit down with a team of young experts and draft a very realistic urban plan for this town center before it’s too late. Among many factors to consider, there should be a must consider factors in that particular draft, this includes.

1. Transportation: there should be a clear blueprint in terms of how people navigate through the streets of Kimana at any time.  Will there be a need for new improved roads, public transportation systems, or infrastructure for alternative modes of transportation such as biking or walking? Because really, apparently in kimana there are absolutely no walking paths nor biking streams for safety purposes, all these aspects fall under the urban planning.
2. Employment: How will this town be viable enough to create job opportunities for its residents? Will there be a need for new businesses and industries, or will existing ones need to expand? There should be at least a well thought-out operation policy that guides large-Scaled businesses settling into Kimana going forward. I appreciate the fact that a lot of young people are already employed to different businesses in Kimana and doing very well.
3. Education: How will this town center provide quality and affordable education for its fast growing population? Will there be a need for new schools or universities, or will existing ones need to expand further to accommodate more pupils and reduce the congestion in classrooms and which I anticipate will be much worse in the near future if nothing is done in that regard.
4. Utilities: Kimana actually demands that the local leadership meets its increasing demand for electricity connection, water supply, Universal Health care, Resource centers, awareness and other utilities. There is a huge need to upgrade and expand existing infrastructure and build new facilities!
5. Environmental sustainability: The Kimana local leadership needs to highly ensure that this growth is sustainable and doesn’t negatively impact the environmental situation of Kimana, in fact it should set aside a special operation unit to take care of the environment and continuously sensitize the local people of the importance of maintaining a good environment in Kimana, a critical need to implement green initiatives and its regulations.
6. Drainage: This is actually one of the most important aspect of this urban plan, in my recent observation during the Rainy season, people could rarely walk along the streets of Kimana due to overflowing floods almost every corner of town, children hardly walk around due to large pools of rain water laying on the roadsides. Something really needs to be done and this should be one of the most prioritized fixes in Kimana town so that the floods can be channeled accordingly to avoid all these inconveniences during rainy seasons.
7. Parking: parking of cars has become a menace in Kimana in recent years, motorists tend to park their vehicles just anywhere they stop which has caused quite a lot of inconveniences, there need to be a well set out places as parking areas this includes the public transportation designated area so that we don’t have matatus carrying people from everywhere in town and private cars being parked everywhere this will really bring back order in Kimana.

Those are just a few of the factors that I think should be very loud during the urban planning draft for Kimana town.

Nakuru was once like Kimana town back in the years of its formation and the place was a small, chaotic town with a poorly planned  system and a lack of green space and other important aspects of urban areas. However,  the city implemented a number of urban planning and development initiatives, including the creation of a comprehensive plan, the expansion of the public transportation system today hosting more than 20 transport routes in Kenya and one of the largest Transit stop overs in the country and probably in the region, development of greenway networks and public spaces. These efforts have helped to create a more beautiful, livable and sustainable city for its residents today. So for Kimana and other promising town centers in Kajiado South, we only need a political goodwill and brain powerhouse for us to realize our full potential, we need a proactive local leadership starting from the MCA that has an open mind to different realities, this kind of growth and planning does not require political parties, clans, age sets nor tribal lords , this needs a leader who has a clear vision for the people he is leading and Kimana ward is not an exemption to this growth.

Young people and women from Kimana just wants a well planned arena for them to operate with ease, am talking about the young people and women because they are the most affected negatively by the existing poor planning of this area, a good solid waste management system must be put in place for them to do business in a clean and safe environment, Kimana has been notorious in terms of how the local leadership respond to this menace , it’s a shame that actually Cholera outbreak had to land in Kimana in the past few weeks and this are the contributing factors towards such diseases, floods flowing all over Kimana town is another reason probably causing this outbreaks, and in the coming years if a plan is not an option then we are looking at a slum in the making! It will be irreversible.

Therefore, it’s high time that we start to view Kimana from a different angle! If our local leadership starts moving towards this direction as early as now then there is no doubt that big and prominent investors will stream in with ease and this place will be bigger, better and livable even in a hundred years to come, let the next generation appreciate what we did before them, do your small part I do my small part we all do our small parts because it’s the droplets that makes an ocean.

Article By Daniel Njuguna