The city of Nairobi is set to receive a massive transformation courtesy of the proposed Nairobi Railway City Development Plan.
The development will give a huge section of Nairobi a makeover, occupying 435 acres belonging to Kenya Railways and located adjacent to the current Central Business District. It is part of a future plan to have a greater CBD that covers other districts like Upperhill.
The project will see the construction of a Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) zone, commercial zone and a residential zone. All these will be interconnected with several pedestrian-first streets, including the longest shopping promenade in the region.
At the centre of the proposed development is a modern railway station and transportation hub.
There will be lots of green spaces to match with the demands of a modern city. BRT lines will also be integrated into the project from scratch.
The new district will also have a police station and fire station.
According to Principal Secretary, State Dept for Housing and Urban Development Charles Hinga, the project is in the procurement stage.
It is unclear what financing model this will use, but the most likely will be the government building the underlying infrastructure while the private sector takes up development.
The entire project is estimated to take 20 years to complete. It is expected to create 200,000 jobs and house 28,000 residents.
Here’s a video fly-through of the proposed project.
