Runda fights against intrusion by Nairobi road

The construction of a major road meant to ease traffic flow in Nairobi has run into legal headwinds with residents of upmarket Runda estate seeking court orders to stop it.

The road, whose construction began last year, is being built on land reserved for the purpose more than 25 years ago, but Runda residents say it would disrupt their lifestyles and devalue property in the gated estate where exclusivity remains a key selling point.

The suit seeks to block the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) from building the Northern bypass road through the estate and to quash the National Environmental Management Authority’s 2009 decision to endorse the project.

The residents want the government to divert the bypass to alternative routes outside the estate, but the government insists that it bought and reserved the land long before the area was settled, making it impossible to change its course.

Legal experts said the case marks yet another showdown between the public interest as represented by the government and private pursuits of segments of the population.

Though Emmanuel Wache, the lawyer representing Runda Residents Association, agrees that the roads plan was drawn when the area was a coffee estate, he insists that the change of course was necessary in view of the millions of shillings spent on developing the area.

Mr Wache argues that having such a major road running through the estate poses the risk of breaching the area’s security and the privacy of residents, besides exposing their children to the risk of being hit by speeding commercial vehicles.

Popular public service vehicles, the matatus, are not allowed to ply roads passing through the estate while heavy commercial vehicles are blocked from 6pm and during weekends.

The government however insists that the road must be built according to the original plan since it infringes on no private plot.

“No notice to demolish anyone’s property has been issued in Runda making opposition to the road untenable,” said Rachael Keino, the head of communication at the Roads ministry.

Delay in construction of the Northern bypass will hold up efforts to decongest Nairobi’s central business district through diversion of traffic that has no business in the city centre.

Traffic congestion is estimated to cost Sh2 billion a day in fuel consumption and lost man hours, making it a key concern for the city’s planners and managers of the Vision 2030 development blueprint.

The Northern Bypass is a 25-kilometre road linking Thika Road to Waiyaki Way which is part of the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

It runs through Kahawa West, Githurai, and upmarket Thome, Windsor, Runda and Kitisuru estates.

Work on the Sh8.5 billion road is in progress and has reached Kiambu Road from where it must enter Runda through Githogoro slums.