3 counties suspend issuing development permits for land near Konza
An artist's impression of the Konza Technology City.
What you need to know:
- Lands CS Faridah Karoney said her ministry will complete the buffer zone plan in time to allow the resumption of developments on July 1.
The county governments of Machakos, Makueni and Kajiado have suspended issuing new development permits in areas within a 10 kilometre radius of the Konza technopolis.
In a joint statement, the counties said the 90-day suspension will allow them to develop an inter-county physical and land use development plan that provides guidelines and standards for regulated land use practices and general development within the zone.
The agreement was reached after the three governors met Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and discussed ways to legally protect the area around Konza City, by creating a buffer zone that protects the city from being surrounded by unplanned properties.
ICT CS Joe Mucheru and Lands CS Farida Karoney also attended the meeting, the latter saying her ministry will complete the buffer zone plan in time to allow the resumption of developments on July 1.
Tussles
The government is fast-tracking the resumption of development activities within the Konza metropolis, one of the key vision 2030 development projects whose progress had been halted by development-related tussles among Kajiado, Machakos and Makueni.
One of the tussles was about how to share labour opportunities that arise within the shared zone. The three counties agreed to be sharing the jobs in ratios.
The issues have since been resolved, with the three counties agreeing to share labour opportunities that arise as major developers kick off construction.
Already, the ICT ministry has set up a national data centre at the facility that will act as the digital residence of all government information and data.
With phase one of the facility completed, government ministries and agencies are expected to be the initial movers of their data to the centre whose security is set to be beefed up by deployment of extra police officers to the facility ahead of its official opening.
Two weeks ago, the Interior ministry flagged off the construction of an ultra-modern security command centre that consists of a police station, a fire station, an emergency response unit and officers houses that will act as a benchmark for future policing in the country and the region.
