City Hall is reviewing building restrictions in Nairobi’s upmarket estates, paving way for the construction of high-rise buildings.
The new by-laws, set for publication in October, will open up leafy suburbs to developers of high-rise flats that could reduce the value of property in the estates.
The review targeting inner city suburbs such as Kilimani, Westlands and Kileleshwa is expected to significantly lower the value of property in these areas with the rise in number of houses.
Industry analysts say the new by-laws will enable developers to distribute the land costs over more units, thereby pulling down prices.
Mr Patrick Odongo, the director of planning at the Nairobi City Council said easing development restrictions should bring down land prices and encourage new investments in the property sector.
“City Hall is working on raising the plot ration restriction to 200% from the current 75% in these estates to encourage investments that have been stifled by high cost of land,” Mr Odongo said.
The plot ratio of a site is the total floor area of the building divided by the site area. The higher the plot ratio, the more total floor area can be allocated to the site.
Mr Odongo said a consortium of professionals is working on the building regulation reviews and the final submissions are expected in September, before their enactment in October.
Once the enacted, the laws will allow developers of the designated estates to build high rise residential buildings of up to 10 floors in the leafy suburbs. Developers with capability to fully manage their waste disposal could be allowed to build additional two floors.
