Architects poke holes on land planning Bill

The Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) is demanding deeper scrutiny of the Physical Planning Bill 2017 warning adoption of the legislation in its current state will cause conflict during implementation.

The architects lobby told Parliament that critical omission in the Bill “misalign” it with the constitution and put it in conflict with existing laws.

The Bill sponsored by Majority Leader Aden Duale seeks to provide for the planning, use, regulation and development of land in the country. It seeks to repeal and replace the Physical Planning Act of 1996.

“The Bill as framed is contradictory to some of the existing legislations and is likely to cause confusion and discordance in implementation,” said Juliet Rita, chairperson AAK Town Planners Chapter.

She noted that the Bill contradicts provisions of the County Governments Act and the Urban Areas & Cities Act, consequently undermining the spirit of devolution.

The Bill, initially passed by the National Assembly as the Physical Planning Bill 2015, is currently under consideration by the committee on lands.

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Ms Rita in her submission before the committee argued that the Bill does not explicitly give provisions for preparation of physical plans making it a defective law.

“The Bill should be the mother of land-use planning and should clearly give provisions for preparations of all plans including the national Spatial Plan, Special Planning Area Plan, County Spatial Plan, City/Municipal Land use plans, among others as provided for under the constitution,” she said.

Her sentiments echo remarks by the National Land commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri when he appeared before the committee on Wednesday.

Prof Swazuri noted that the Bill seems targeted at undermining devolution since it seeks to take away approval powers of land use plan from the County Assembly by flouting Article 174 (C) and 185 (4) of the Constitution.