Nairobi - March 27 2017, UN-Habitat in collaboration with the County Government of Kiambu and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Nairobi organized a workshop to disseminate the process and outcomes of the “Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan” initiative, recently concluded in Ruiru, one of the towns within the Nairobi Metropolitan Area.

The “SUMP” in Ruiru, has demonstrated a participatory process that identified actions to improve accessibility and mobility through improvements in the design of streets and public spaces, providing a safer and more attractive environment for walking and cycling integrated with public transport.

Speaking at the event, Hon. Mr. Gerald Githinji, the Deputy Governor of Kiambu county highlighted the essence of transport being the means of access – to opportunities and services and expressed his appreciation of various UN-Habitat led activities implemented in Kiambu. Engineer Njeri, CEC transport, Kiambu County outlined the  SUMP process and how it had enabled citizens, town officials and businesses to work together in coming up with an implementable plan that had now received the consent of the county cabinet. The plan is expected to be implemented in an incremental manner after allocation of funds under the county’s budgetary process. The CEO of the recently established Nairobi area Metropolitan Transport Authority, Mr._James Nganga, expressed appreciation of the SUMP process and proposed that a similar process should be carried out for the entire Nairobi Metropolitan Area. Similar proposals were also made by representatives of other counties such as Kilifi and Kajiado.