A flooded road in Nairobi after heavy rain (file). Photo: Rudian kd via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Nairobi to spend Sh25bn fixing drains before rains.
Nairobi County says it needs about Sh25 billion to overhaul a drainage system that has failed to cope with recent heavy rain, as it races to clear blocked drains before the October-December rains.
The push follows flooding in March that killed 33 people and displaced thousands of households in the city. County teams have mapped 227 flood hotspots and are working with the Kenya Red Cross, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, KeNHA and national disaster agencies to clear waterways along Mombasa Road, Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Lang'ata Road.
"The drainage that we have is not built for this amount of rain," Governor Johnson Sakaja said, adding that decades of poor planning cannot be fixed with quick repairs.
Worst-hit areas
Kayole, Mathare and Mukuru kwa Ruben are among the areas already flagged as most vulnerable, alongside ongoing construction work on Uhuru Highway meant to improve water flow. The National Disaster Operations Centre has separately warned that flash flooding could disrupt roads and low-lying settlements once the rains begin.
County officials say the Sh25 billion overhaul is a longer-term plan, and that immediate works are focused on clearing existing drains rather than rebuilding them.
This story was put together by K N N from material first published by The Standard.
That was a Kibra News Network report, read by an A I voice.
Nairobi County says it needs about Sh25 billion to overhaul a drainage system that has failed to cope with recent heavy rain, as it races to clear blocked drains before the October-December rains.
The push follows flooding in March that killed 33 people and displaced thousands of households in the city. County teams have mapped 227 flood hotspots and are working with the Kenya Red Cross, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, KeNHA and national disaster agencies to clear waterways along Mombasa Road, Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Lang’ata Road.
“The drainage that we have is not built for this amount of rain,” Governor Johnson Sakaja said, adding that decades of poor planning cannot be fixed with quick repairs.
Worst-hit areas
Kayole, Mathare and Mukuru kwa Ruben are among the areas already flagged as most vulnerable, alongside ongoing construction work on Uhuru Highway meant to improve water flow. The National Disaster Operations Centre has separately warned that flash flooding could disrupt roads and low-lying settlements once the rains begin.
County officials say the Sh25 billion overhaul is a longer-term plan, and that immediate works are focused on clearing existing drains rather than rebuilding them.
KNN Newsroom is the staff byline for stories written, rewritten and edited at the Kibra News Network desk. Where a story credits an outside outlet, the original source is linked at the foot of the piece.
