This archive report was first published on 5 August 2020.
As Nairobi grapples with various challenges, the Nairobi Metropolitan Service's 'Project Nairobi' offers a beacon of hope for the city's residents and businesses.
Launched by General Badi, the project aims to transform Nairobi into a thriving metropolis, and its early results are promising. The NMS team has implemented an effective and transparent revenue collection system, which will strengthen financial management and accountability while minimizing corrupt leakages.
Water shortages are receiving priority attention, with ongoing clean-up efforts aimed at providing clean water to residents. The NMS is also gifting pedestrians with safe and convenient walkways, an infrastructure whose positive impacts have been ignored in the past.
Furthermore, the NMS has improved traffic management by installing functional traffic lights at intersections, which will eventually release tired traffic officers for assignments elsewhere. However, the lights could be made more efficient with the addition of smart technology to recognize and manage varying traffic flows.
The project also promises to reinstate the glory and aesthetics of Nairobi's parks, making them a major and beautiful difference for residents and visitors. Botanical experts should be engaged to design the parks and select the best plants, restoring Nairobi's reputation as the 'beautiful city in the sun.'
Additionally, the NMS should view the city's solid waste as a major economic opportunity to produce electricity. This could be achieved through a public-private partnership project, creating a best practice for towns like Mombasa to emulate.
With the proposed commuter traffic transport plans looking technically and economically feasible, the NMS should progressively convert them into reality to avoid repeated promises of projects that never come to fruition. Transport projects implementation will create jobs, while delivering all the pluses associated with efficient city commuter transport.
As the NMS continues to implement positive changes, the political wing of the county leadership is engaged in endless wrangles, physical violence, impeaching, suspending, and reinstating. However, the Nairobi population is behind General Badi and confident that he will not let them down.
