The government is prioritising the modernization of Nairobi City’s drainage system under a Ksh 8.7 billion plan to address the flooding menace that continues to affect city residents, Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir has told senators.
While responding to questions from senators, Chirchir said the National Government, in collaboration with the Nairobi City County Government (NCCG) have commenced an infrastructure project that will modernize the city’s drainage system.
“The Ministry of Roads, through Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) has put some budget of about Ksh 8 billion to support NCCG to address those challenges and have designs that will address dimensions necessary to off-take water when we have the kind of rains that we have,” Chirchir told the Senate.
According to Chirchir, due to the increase of new buildings in the city coupled with growing population, the current drainage system that allows passage of storm water is limited, leading to floods which have affected residents, motorists and businesses within the capital.
The National Police which is currently leading the search and rescue operations across the country, said as of Sunday last week, 66 fatalities had been recorded, including 55 men, 8 women and 8 children. Nairobi City had the largest number of victims, with 33 fatalities being recorded.
“We are currently working to ensure that we do dimensions and work on the kind of drainage that can support our city to mitigate the challenges of floods like we have witnessed,” added Chirchir.
The drainage system is part of the Cooperation Agreement the city entered into with the National Government on February 17, 2026 covering social and economic development in the City.
Under the Ksh 80 billion agreement, KURA plans to spend Ksh 1.7 billion to construct roads in the capital beginning April this year, while Ksh 1 billion will support improvement of county drainage.
The agreement includes collaboration in among others, waste management in the city to improve public health, development and maintenance of county roads and street lighting.
Due to the rains, traders across the city have been left with millions in losses after cars, businesses premises, properties and power lines were affected.
Chirchir also backed amendments to the Kenya Roads Board Act, which seeks to review the sharing of the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) to further support counties in repairing roads damaged by floods.
