Land grabbers in Nairobi must be worried following Governor Mike Sonko’s latest move. Sonko, who has off late maintained his stunt, has given a warning to people who have illegally acquired land in Nairobi. The Nairobi county has also stepped up a campaign to reclaim grabbed public parking bays within the CBD.
Already the county has repossessed over 200 public parking slots over the last one month.
Sonko has put on notice land grabbers in the capital warning that buildings on grabbed public land will also be demolished.
“We have no room for land grabbers in Nairobi and my administration will not relent on it’s quest to reclaim grabbed public land in Nairobi as promised during my pre-election campaigns,” warned Sonko.
Director for Parking Tom Tinega has said the aim of the campaign is to increase the number of parking slots in CBD in order to save residents from the deficiency of parking bays.
He said his department is targeting over 50 grabbed areas.
“We have started the campaign in the CBD where a number of public parking bays have been grabbed by individuals who have redesigned the parking slots for their own personal benefit and we are targeting other 50 areas,” said Tinega.
The Sonko administration seeks to avail more public parking slots in the CBD before the introduction of the Bus Rapid Transport system in conjunction with the national government.
The plan is aimed at decongesting the CBD in order to end cases of perennial traffic jams in Nairobi.
Among the parking bays that have been repossessed is the one between Nyayo House and Intercontinental hotel where a private developer had converted the parking bay into a private property.
Another parking bay that has been repossessed by City Hall from grabbers is along Haile Selassie Avenue next to Shell Petrol station where the grabber had installed parking payment machines.