The Nairobi City Physical and Land Use Planning Liaison Committee led by the Chair of the Committee Dr. R.O Monda handed its report to County Executive Committee Member for Built Environment and Urban Planning Mr. Patrick Mbogo in the company of County Chief Officer for Urban Planning and Development Mr. Patrick Analo.
The committee which was established in the year 2021 pursuant to section 76 of the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, 2019, handed over the first report on matters executed over the last 3-years since the committee was unveiled. The report provided an overview of development matters filed at the committee by aggrieved parties and who were dissatisfied with the decisions made after a case was settled. According to the report, most of the appeals appeared to emanate from aggrieved developers and or interested parties whose developments were situated in areas characterized by medium and high income socio-economic groups only.
Nairobi Physical and Land Use Planning Liaison Committee is a statutory quasi-judicial tribunal that is meant to be a cheaper non-legalistic alternative dispute resolution mechanism, envisaged to offer timely determination of appeals by aggrieved parties of all socio-economic groups in the Nairobi City County jurisdiction.
But the committee, which comprises advocates, physical planners, architects, surveyor among other professionals, has been unable to fully function due to lack of proper facilities, delayed payment of allowances, lack of an independent budget, and the short notice for determining cases.
The committee is blaming county government for failing to provide a register for all development permits to the public for scrutiny after it emerged most cases filed before it do not meet the set timelines under the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, 2019.
Section 61 of the Act provides that the relevant County Executive Committee Members (CECM) shall maintain a register for all development permission and shall indicate whether the permission was granted or not, besides providing details of the development applied for. Further, the register should be open to public scrutiny.
The committee’s chairman R.O Monda, said they have processed and concluded several appeals leading to a reduction in number of enforcement cases.
“The uptake of the committee advisories has been commendable although a lot needs to done to achieve a more cohesive and planned city. Indeed, the continued failure by the county to keep a public register for all applications for building approvals in Nairobi is creating a great disservice to prospective litigants who do not have a ready avenue for establishing when approvals or applications are made to have an opportunity to challenge the same,” noted Monda.
The report provides an overview of development matters filed at the committee by aggrieved parties dissatisfied with the decisions made after a case is settled.
Among the key functions of the committee is realizing a properly planned city, hearing and determining complaints and claims made in respect to applications submitted to the county, hearing appeals against decisions made by the planning authority, and handling enforcement disputes.