Nairobi City County has started work on a new land-use and zoning plan for Westlands. The move comes as Governor Johnson Sakaja's administration faces hard questions over building approvals after the collapse of a high-rise in Eastleigh last week.

In a public notice dated Monday, October 26, 2026, the county said it intends to prepare a Local Physical and Land Use Development Plan for the Westlands Zone. The notice was issued under Section 47 of the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, 2019, which requires county governments to consult the public on such plans.

Comments due by November 16

Residents, property owners and other stakeholders have 21 days to send written comments. The deadline is November 16, 2026. Submissions go to the County Executive Committee Member for Built Environment and Urban Planning at City Hall, P.O. Box 30075-00100, Nairobi.

The plan will cover a wide area. As reported by The Kenya Times and The Eastleigh Voice, its boundaries run along Waiyaki Way, the Kiambu County border, the Gitathuru River, Karura Forest, the Mathare River, Thika Road, Murang'a Road, Prof Wangari Maathai Road and the Kirichwa River. That takes in parts of the city where apartment towers and office blocks have multiplied in recent years.

One detail in the notice has caused confusion. The Kenya Times quotes it as saying the county "intends to commence preparation of the above Plan on the 10/10/2026", a date earlier than the notice itself. Other reports give October 26 as the start date. The county had not clarified the discrepancy by Tuesday.

What the plan is meant to do

The notice lists the plan's goals as:

• setting out a sustainable development framework for the zone;
• identifying development challenges and ways to address them;
• finding infrastructure gaps and improving services;
• issuing zoning guidelines to manage development trends;
• protecting heritage, cultural and environmental assets; and
• aligning the zone with county, metropolitan and national plans.

It also commits the county to involving stakeholders as the plan is drawn up.

Westlands has been at the centre of debate about how fast Nairobi is building upwards. Residents' groups have long complained that new towers are going up faster than roads, sewers and water lines can handle. A zoning plan that has gone through public participation would give the county a firmer legal basis to approve or reject developments.

Eastleigh backdrop

The notice was published three days after a building under construction on 9th Street in Eastleigh collapsed on Friday, October 23. Rescue operations went on through the weekend.

Sakaja has said the county only approved a change of use for the plot, from residential to commercial-cum-residential, on October 17, 2024. He says architectural plans submitted the following month were never approved, so the developer had no permission to build. The county's account is disputed. Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has circulated a document he says shows a construction approval, and the two have exchanged legal threats. The Director of Public Prosecutions has ordered a criminal investigation and said the county had not sent an inquiry file.

The governor has also said the county will work with the building inspectorate, the Engineers Board of Kenya and professional bodies to audit ongoing construction across the city.

The county has not said how the Westlands plan relates to that audit, or whether similar plans are coming for other zones such as Eastleigh, Kilimani and Kileleshwa. Once public views are gathered, the draft plan will need approval before it becomes binding on developers.

Photos: The Kenya Times (Governor Johnson Sakaja); Mkimemia/Wikimedia Commons, public domain (Nairobi skyline from Westlands)