+1 Phares On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 9:20 AM, Phares <phares.kariuki@gmail.com> wrote:
I don't get why folks say Nairobi is irredeemable. New York had slums circa 1890. Rome has had worse infrastructure ownership issues than Nairobi (I'm quite sure given the number of historical buildings they cannot take down - as opposed to Nairobi, where, for the sake of our collective vision, we ought to take several hideous buildings down).
Let us say Konza takes off.. What happens to the five odd million people in Nairobi's greater metropolis? Do we flatten the city? Do we let the city collapse? Won't the property owners lose their margins?
New York, with more infrastructure than us has taken on the very same "Silicon Valley" that we are trying to own.
The most successful nations are those that adapt, not those that run away from their problems. The tragedy with Nairobi is that the land around the serviced land was developed in an unplanned manner. Konza Technopolis has it's land fenced off... Around Konza, unplanned structrues will mushroom. How do you handle this going forward?
There are simple solutions to the land 'mess' that we have in Nairobi. They are the same problems that affect land across the nation, so unless Konza is being built outside of the country, we will end up with the same mess. For example, slums - slums serve the very middle class that is being moved to Konza. Given that we (as Kenyans generally), don't pay our help well but cannot live without their services, they tend to live in the slums. The issue is not that they cannot move out, its' that they don't have the income to justify moving out. Is this an issue that has been resolved? Paying your own house help well, is an irrational decision as far as the market is concerned at that point in time (tragedy of the commons. Good for each individual procuring the labour services but bad for the economy in general in the medium to long term). Will there be guidlines for how much you can pay your help? What happens in the case that there are? People will obviously demand higher income from their employers (remember, lifestyle, like pricing, is sticky downwards). If they can actually enforce this then the question begs, why didn't they do that earlier - is it that the people in Kibera did not need intervention?
Land speculation is one such problem. Land is already on sale in the environs of Konza. Use landrates as a catalyst. Increase landrates (especially in commercial areas) to ensure that people build northwards (a good example of the tragedy that is our poor land rates is the Junction and their open air parking). A one acre piece of land in Upperhill is roughly 200M KES. Annual Land rates? 170,000 KES. Why wouldn't I speculate on the land? If, however, commercial zones had higher rates, I'd be forced to build northwards for the investment to make sense. The council will then have the money to supply necessary services to my land. The devaluation of the land will allow for the government to buy land for bypasses etc at a much lower rate.
The reality of the matter is not that Nairobi cannot be fixed (it's a tiny city in the grand scheme of things - Tokyo has a metropolis of 35 million people), it's that we lack the will to do it.
On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 8:15 AM, Dan Kwach <dan.kwach@kdn.co.ke> wrote:
However sweet the masterplan reads...I think we need a lot more than the plan to ensure this project becomes a success....the involvement of different players with critical roles will ensure its success or death...someone once said that an "elephant is a rat built to Govnt specifications".
Proposal righting is a full time paying job...and we have spin masters who can do a spectucular job...
See the players and you will realise they might just have different viewpoints and goals so to speak...
From Kibaki's legacy of putting up first class infrastructure, it serves his tenure right that this noble idea picks up...the successor has the uphill task.....
Current PS - Bitange Ndemo's acumen in matters ICT is undisputable....this is Ndemo the individual...of whom I am certain scoring political points probably have no space in his thoughts and plans...his optimism is what we need for technological developments rare in the 3rd world....
From an Investors point of view - the very IT/ICT giants targeted, a SWOT and PEST - Political, Econimic, Social and Tech analysis will carry the day any time to make them see the opportunity as worth exploiting. Political stability ranks highly for them....my opinion...a simple goof and we are stuck with the plan....
One dangerous point of view is that of the land dealers...they are the smartest...they do their sw*O*t analysis in a rather biased manner....and make hay when the sun still shines...to them Opportunity comes first!
Nonetheless, the only way out is to ensure the different players appreciate the plan as is....Politicians should know their delicate role in ensuring investment opportunities are not thrown out of the window....and we might just need to clone Ndemo - pun intended!
Dan O.Kwach.
On 1/28/2013 4:19 PM, Kinuthia Ngugi wrote:
Ni wangapi wamesoma ruwaza rasmi ya Konza City? I thought so. If you look at the Konza Masterplan, it talks about all these things you have stated in way of infrastructure, but they are planned *in phases!*. What the president broke ground on is just the start of infrastructure development, the city is envisaged to take about 20yrs, thats why Kibaki insisted that day that the next president to continue vivyo hivyo!! As someone said, Rome wasnt built in day and with the right leadership this things can easily become reality. Even Thika Rd was said to be a pipe dream when the plans first came out, a short few yrs ago.
On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 4:03 PM, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
@Joram
If the government's view is that Nairobi is irredeemable them we are lost!
Every major City - London, New York, Tokyo, Madrid has precisely the same problems that Nairobi had at some point. They wisely decided to fix the problems they were having rather than trash it and start afresh!
On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 3:41 PM, Joram Mwinamo <joram.mwinamo@gmail.com
wrote:
Many seem to believe the sentiments you have listed but i think it comes more from our distrust for the government(and impending elections) than the fact that a city can be built from scratch. I have had this argument with many who say that Konza will be a white elephant. what they however need to study is how similar projects have been done around the world from south korea(8 smart cities) ,to malaysia,to singapore , to china and closer to home egypt.
what the government is saying in short is "Nairobi is already messed up beyond repair, we are giving you a chance to invest in an ideal city and giving you incentives to do the same" .they are saying this to both locals and internationals. Internationals seem to be listening more.
As with anything else I could be wrong but if im right, a lot of people will be kicking themselves in the foot in 2017 for not going in, and if im wrong, well.....life goes on and a few very rich organisations lose a small part of their investment. i believe the former will be the case.
On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 3:31 PM, Kevin Omondi <kevin.ouma@gmail.com>wrote:
This weekend I was excited chating with someone from an International Tech company about the new opportunities in Konza Silicon Savannah.
He however asked me a question that got me thinking.
If you were to go set up a campus today in Konza where would you start. What he was saying is that the government should have first put up the infrstructure i.e roads, water, sewage connectivity and then invited investors to come in otherwise it is a piped dream.
In other words, by the time Kibaki was breaking ground all these needed to have been in place.
What are your thoughts, how can this be made to work quickly.
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