The Nairobi City County Government has removed or defaced several illegal advertisement panels set up by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) along Mombasa Road, Nairobi.
The panels which were set up to prevent pedestrians from crossing the highway had been leased out as advertising spaces without consent and statutory approvals from the County Government.
The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and the Devolved Governments Act, 2012 give the county government the powers to take action against the unauthorized structures KeNHA has erected or permitted to be erected in the road reserves.
There seems to be a standoff between the Authority and the county government because late in September, KeNHA destroyed concrete footpaths that had been constructed by the County Government.
“On the week starting on the 24th September 2018, the Authority’s staff identified unauthorized works on Mombasa Road,” read KeNHA’s statement.
The persons, who were later identified to be working for/on behalf of the Nairobi City County, were installing pre-cast concrete slabs forming several footpaths on the median of Mombasa Road between Nyayo Stadium and Bellevue.
The roads regulator claimed that the footpaths would exponentially increase the vehicular-pedestrian interaction/conflict points thereby further worsening the situation of pedestrian safety on Mombasa Road.
Being unauthorized constructions on the road reserve, KeNHA staff immediately engaged the persons and asked them to stop the works immediately.
However, those warned continued installing the footpath forcing the Authority to remove the installations on the night of September 27, 2018.
All slabs were carted away and stored at KeNHA Nairobi Regional Offices to be reclaimed by the owner.
