'Only way is going up,' Sakaja says no turning back on high-rise buildings in Kileleshwa, Lavington

This comes amid lamentations from Nairobians that the face of the city's lavish suburbs is being shattered and transformed into concrete jungles of high-rise apartment blocks.

Speaking during a church service in Bahati, Nairobi County, Sakaja said that the capital is taking an inevitable expanding trajectory and more room to accommodate more Kenyans must be created.

"I have heard people complaining that areas of Kileleshwa and Lavington, our homes were one-storey now apartments have come. Nairobi is 696 square kilometers in 2050 it will have a population of 10.5 million people. Will we expand Nairobi? No the only place we have to go is up" he said.

"The only thing we have to do is fix sewerage, water and drainage."

The Nairobi Governor added that President William Ruto gave him the green light to construct high-rise apartments in the city after scrapping an existing restriction that remained in force for eons.

He said that the move will pave the way for the construction of high-rise apartments under the Affordable Housing Programme.

"Before there was a restriction of the heights of apartments especially close to the airport from the Eastleigh airbase coming down this way. I asked the president, while we were opening the houses at Kiambio and Bahati, that the reason there was an airbase built was to evacuate the president in case of an emergency," Sakaja said.

"I told the President that if he tries that he will be stuck in traffic. You cannot be evacuated through Eastleigh anymore. I am happy the height restriction has been removed we are going to go up to 25 floors in these houses we are building."

Initially categorised as Zone Four by the Nairobi City Council, no building permits here were granted beyond the fourth-floor limit in Kileleshwa. 

Lavington was categorized as Zone Five alongside Upper Spring Valley, Kyuna and Loresho areas.

This is however no longer the case with some apartments now scaling up to 15 floors, towering over those who had initially complied with the city by-laws.

Residents in the areas have complained of waste dumping, bursting of sewer pipes and limited water supplies.