Stop the Southern Bypass from encroaching on Nairobi National Park

  • by: Paula Kahumbu
  • recipient: Proff. Geoffrey Wahungu, Director General National Environmental Management Authority

The Nairobi National Park is the Worlds Greatest City Wildlife Park. It is the only park in a capital city anywhere in the world with wild megafauna like rhino, lion, cheetah, hyena, buffalo and giraffe. The Southern Bypass is a much needed highway to alleviate traffic congestion in the city of Nairobi. The Ministry of Roads through the Kenya Urban Roads Authority has embarked on the construction of this road despite the fact that it contravenes the environmental conditions prescribed in the National Environment Management Authority license which state that the Southern bypass must not encroach on the Nairobi National Park. Despite this the Kenya Cabinet approved the excision of 60 acres of the Nairobi National Park for the construction of the Nairobi Southern Bypass on the 17th of May 2012. This petition demands that Professor Geoffrey Wahungu undertakes to implement the environmental law as it is intended, halts the road construction and addresses the concerns raised by citizens through a legal petition to the National Environmental Tribunal (NET) and ensures that the Ministry of roads strictly follow the environmental laws of Kenya.  

 

The Kenya Constitution has been violated

Our first concern is that the Government is betraying the Constitution by not promoting and processing its plans in the manner which the laws of Kenya demand.  This concern will be magnified if the current road alignment is continued with, which effectively means a degazettement of part of Nairobi National Park, but Parliaments authority for such degazettement, as required by law, has not been obtained.

 

 

Our stand: We support improved road infrastructure to relieve the traffic congestion and pressure that Nairobi now faces. But we are greatly concerned that the Southern Bypass road alignment is not compliant with the processes required by Kenya’s laws and by not following those processes, an alignment concerning 4 kms has emerged that could have been avoided.

 

Our position: The Southern Bypass is not compliant with Kenyan law:

 

·         The road Southern Bypass proposal did follow the processes required by the Environment Management and Coordination Act (EMCA) which led to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) issuing an Environment licence (18 Feb 2011).  However the licence clearly states in Construction Condition 2.2 that the proponent should not encroach on gazetted national parks (Nairobi National Park).  Yet 4 kms of the road is aligned in the park and therefore constitutes a breach of EMCA.

 

·         The EIA submitted to NEMA concerned a road by-pass. The road has been expanded into a corridor with 2 railway lines.  Under these circumstances, EMCA requires a fresh proposal to be submitted to NEMA with a new EIA undertaken. This has not been done and indeed there does not appear to be a feasibility study showing the railway lines are even viable.

 

The consequence of this is that the corridor is now 120 metres wide, thus encroaching even further into the National Park.  The railway corridor also constitutes a breach of the License.

 

 

Our assessment: The Ministry of Roads justification for aligning the road inside the Nairobi Park are invalid

 

·         The main justification for the current alignment reported by the Kenya Urban Road Authority is that the aviation safety requires 570 metres between the threshold of runway 14 at Wilson airport and the Bypass, forcing the Bypass to be routed through the Park.  However, consultations with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority reveals that the regulations dealing with aviation safety, in particular obstacle restriction surface pertaining with a take-off runway, such as runway 14, would require that no object higher than 4 metres are placed in front of runway 14 along the fence between the airport and the park and this over a length of approximately 200 metres.  The Bypass could, therefore, be routed along the boundary of the park (outside the park) and meet the aviation safety requirements, if the bypass go through a dip of 2 to 3 metres deep over a length of approximately 200 metres.

 

·         The recently positioned oil pipeline running underground through the park would lie directly under the road, which would render any maintenance and repair to that section of the pipeline impossible.

 

·         Vision 2030 expects tourism to be the main driver of economic growth and our National Parks are a main platform for this growth.  Degazetting will send a very wrong message as well as setting a dangerous precedent for further degazettments.

 

·         Nairobi National Park is unique in being the only wildlife park in a cosmopolitan city, which makes it very attractive to tourists and residents.  Secondly for such a small park it has a very high biodiversity value. The park is part of Kenya’s priceless heritage.

 

·         Kenya argued aggressively against the construction of a road inside Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, because of the impact it would on the ecosystem, in particular the Masai Mara wildebeest migration.  Building this road in Nairobi National Park would contradict and significantly weaken our position on this issue.

 

FACT: Land has already been excised for the corridor: In 1956 The Royal National Parks of Kenya agreed to excise 267 acres of land for a marshalling yard and another 75 acre for a bypass lane from Nairobi Park. The land given to the East African Railways and Harbours should have been used for the construction of the Southern Bypass and transport corridor.  This land should be identified and returned and utilized for its original purpose.

 

Our position

The laws of Kenya must be followed to the letter. No degazettement of Nairobi National Park should be considered, until all options have been fully revisited and the law is followed to the letter.  We have requested audience with a number of relevant government authorities to present our case and we remain willing to work with the relevant Government Agencies in considering this option in a constructive and proactive manner.

 

Friends of Nairobi National Park (FONNAP)

African Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW)

East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS)

Nairobi Greenline Project and Youth for Conservation

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