AAK’s Strategies to offer solutions on Nairobi Metropolitan Residents

ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION OF KENYA(AAK) is on the forefront to highlight some challenges facing the construction sector in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area. This area accounts for the
majority of the nation’s economic activities, including construction.

Speaking during the launch at Hilton Hotel, the AAK’s President  Wilson Mugambi said ”over the years, the Nairobi City County Government (and formerly the Nairobi City Council) has been responsible for development control in the city”.

This function includes the development of the City Master Plan, development and implementation of zoning regulations, construction permitting, inspection of construction projects to ensure they adhere to the regulations and issuance of occupancy certificates, among other related roles. This function has historically been controversial marked with inefficiencies, corruption, loss of records among many other ills. A decade ago, the Architectural Association of Kenya initiated a process of deploying electronic systems to enhance efficiency and transparency. With the support of the World Bank Group, an electronic construction permitting system was built for the city and which has since been adopted at four other counties – Mombasa, Kiambu, Machakos, Kisumu, Kajiado and Kilifi.

While the automation of this function was expected to improve service delivery, ease of doing business and transparency, the industry has continued to experience major problems over the last decade, affecting the counties that have deployed the system.
We can state that the electronic construction permitting systems are not performing as expected by the industry.

A serious problem that continues to disrupt the professional practice of our members and investments in real estate is the frequent disruptions caused by system downtimes. This has been a regular occurrence, with the most recent situation where, for example, the Nairobi permitting system has not been operational for more than three months this year, impacting negatively on real estate developments in the city.

In response to rising concerns among our members on experiences relating to use of the e-DAMs and the Development Control functions in Nairobi City, the AAK recently undertook a survey to establish an understanding of our members experience with the Nairobi Electronic Development Application System (E-DAMs in the period between 10th August to 12th August 2021. From the survey, a number of worrying trends were observed where we noted that the same could negatively affect the City’s investment climate. From the survey we noted that;
• 46.7% of the respondents indicated that they had to wait for over 6months for
their applications to be processed/granted approval
• Further, a number of respondents indicated that for the projects that were pending approval, their applications had been pending for an average of between 3-6 months
• The survey also included a question as to the value of the projects for which applications had been submitted to the County Government/NMS but were yet to be processed. Accordingly, the highest value of project whose applications were pending stood at Kshs. 2 Billion and the least being reported at Kshs. 10million.
• Compared to 2020 statistics as far as permitting fees collected by the Nairobi Development Control Departments, the amount of revenue lost due to pending applications was significantly high. Notably, a back-of the hand calculation with past statistics as a yard stick gives a ballpark figure of approximately Kshs.65,357,432.60 Million in revenues lost by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services during the period (4 months) under which the e-permitting system was unavailable to members of the public and professionals alike.

• While the total permitting fees collected by NMS in the first half of 2021 (Kshs. 324,901,800) was a marginal increase of 16.6% compared to the same half in 2020, the projected loss of Kshs 65 Million indicated above points to the vital role the e-permitting system plays in revenue collection within the county. The same can be contextualized as follows;

In the H’1 of 2020, NMS received a total of 970 building applications, 664 planning applications, and 866 renovation works applications. The same is a drop compared to the numbers recorded in H’1 of 2021 where the NMS received 626 building applications, 598 planning applications, and 512 renovation works applications. We have also conducted other surveys in the recent past that have uncovered that county governments have very weak technical capacity to manage development control. They have failed to hire and retain duly qualified persons, capable of efficiently carrying out this technical role, leaving the essential functions such as review and approval of technical drawings, inspection of construction projects to persons who are not qualified to do so. This, together with corrupt practices and political interference is responsible for the continuing incidences of collapse of  buildings, as recently happened in Gachie and Kinoo in Kiambu County.

Such incidences, regrettably places the lives and property of innocent Kenyans at risk.Professionals in the industry and property developers are forced to contend with the unnecessary delays due to what has been presented as ‘technical challenges’ to the systems. It is worth noting that this sector is a major revenue earner for the county governments, raised from the construction permitting fees levied on developers. It is therefore vital that the county governments put in place adequate budgetary allocations to ensure that the development control function, as a major revenue source, functions efficiently. This includes hiring properly qualified persons (architects, engineers, physical planners etc) to manage development control operations as well as ICT experts to ensure the systems operate efficiently. Kenya has a large number of qualified persons who can take up these roles, including a robust ICT environment.

As a way of encouraging compliance, County Governments must make construction permits reasonably priced and easy to obtain. The systems deployed in Kenya are only linked to the county government approvals despite that about 15 other government agencies are involved, depending on location of construction. We must reform the system to produce a one-stop solution that covers all these agencies in one workflow to improve efficiency.

Mr.Mugambi added that Beyond the challenges presented by the malfunctioning development control systems, we wish to highlight, briefly some high level flaws that we bring to the attention of the public, which will support orderly development of the building, and construction sector this country:

1. Procedures and Fees for Construction Permitting in Kenya: As indicated earlier, this is a devolved function in Kenya. The objective of construction permitting in the country, globally, is the same.We have noted that the procedures and fees for construction permitting in the country are drastically varied, with limited information made freely accessible to the public. It is our position as the Architectural Association of Kenya that National government,working with industry stakeholders including our Association, prepares a set of guidelines (possibly a comprehensive handbook on development control) to produce a standard set of procedures, including harmonization of fees, outlining the Physical and Land Use Planning Act regulations as regards timelines for approvals by County governments. This will significantly improve the predictability and public confidence with regard to this function as well as improve the Ease of Doing Business.

2. Building Code: There has been an initiative, over the last twenty years or so to update the country’s building code, a process that has not been completed to date. This matter needs to be concluded as a matter of urgency, considering Kenya still uses a Building Code from 1968 and that there have been substantial advancements since then, with regard to building technology. We call upon the relevant ministries agencies to conclude this activity as it will open up the industry for new, cost effective and climate responsive buildings in Kenya.

3.Zoning Regulations – The orderly development of cities and other urban areas is guided by zoning regulations, developed by the government. These regulations are updated from time to time to capture the evolving societal dynamics. However, despite efforts to update the Nairobi area zoning regulations, this process has not been completed. This situation applies across the country. We call upon the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, Nairobi City County Government and all other county governments to complete and publish zoning regulations and put in place mechanisms to strictly enforce them, for
orderly development of the nation.

The Architectural Association of Kenya remains committed to partner with all industry stakeholder in the private and public sectors to collaborate in efforts that will produce a better, safer built environment that encourages innovation and investments.