Cytonn Real Estate, the development affiliate of Cytonn Investments, focused on developing institutional grade real estate held a public participation forum for its Cytonn Towers project in Kilimani area, located at the junction between Argwings Kodhek and Elgeyo Marakwet roads. The public participation forum is a policy requirement by the Government of Kenya and a mandatory procedure as stipulated by EMCA 1999 section 58 on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which aims at gathering all the stakeholders key concerns in a bid to achieving sustainable development.
Dr Munyua Mwaura, a certified EIA Expert
Cytonn Towers is a proposed Ksh. 20 billion mixed-use development which when complete, will host residential apartments, Grade A offices, a branded hotel & serviced apartments, and a world-class retail center. During its development, the initiative will create over 10,000 jobs and when complete shall light Nairobi’s skylines, bring the much-needed tourist revenue and also host the highest suspended restaurant in Africa and provide an aspirational live, work and play environment.
A magnificent view of the Cytonn Towers
The forum which commenced at 9.30 am, was chaired by a certified EIA expert Dr. Munyua Mwaura. The team included experienced experts in the various fields who included, Eng. Ochieng of Traspo Consortium who is handling the traffic impact analysis, Paul Oburu of Aspera Designs, and Eng. Samuel Mwangi of Horicon Engineers. There was great attendance by the Kilimani community among them schools, residents of Kilimani and the business community, and they registered the key grievances that they would like addressed by the developer, among them being noise & dust pollution during construction and excessive traffic once complete. The Cytonn team of experts explained what was being done to tackle their concerns and we shall meet the residents again as per the regulatory requirements.
Edwin Dande addressing Kilimani residents
Speaking during the forum, Managing Partner & CEO, Edwin Dande reiterated the importance of the forum in mapping a way forward for the project and the people of Kilimani. His main observation was that the development shall help create Jobs and is projected that during its construction over 10,000 jobs shall be created. “We are here to ensure constructive engagement with the local community because as Cytonn, we are a brand that follows process. In all our Real Estate projects, whether The Alma in Ruaka or Amara Ridge in Karen, we ensured that we engaged, listened to and considered the views of the local community.” He said.
A resident sharing his concerns during the forum
The Project Architect, Paul Oburu, noted that we have engaged a number of professionals to assist in addressing various matters that would see a sustainable development, functionally, environmentally and socially to the end users, neighbors and any other stakeholders. He also noted that the project is in the process of obtaining various approvals, and that the public participation was a crucial part of the process to enhance good relations with the neighbors and address their concerns over the project.
A view of the proposed suspended restaurant at the Cytonn Towers
“As per the NEMA regulations, Cytonn is required to organize three public barazas, and the current forum served as a step towards achieving this and we expect more engagements that will address our concerns as Kilimani residents and stakeholders,” said one of the residents in Kilimani, who is an EIA expert.
Irungu Huton, Chairman of the Kilimani Project Foundation, an organization that brings together the local community to promote community living, commended Cytonn for being the first developer to organise a forum to collect and collate views from the local residents, some of whom had serious concerns over the implications of the project.
Kilimani residents in attendance during the consultative forum
“We can all agree and appreciate that we have had a consultative forum organized by Cytonn to get our views about the Cytonn Towers project, and hopefully have them addressed. From the forum, we have raised a number of issues which cut across noise, health and safety, economic and social life of our community. We, therefore, look forward to follow-up forums to get responses to our questions and a way forward for the project and local community.” He noted.
Following the consultative forum, views from the local residents will be taken into consideration in mapping the way forward for the development of the iconic tower.
See link to press statement on the forum here.
