Satellite Towns Strain as Housing Outpaces Roads, Water and Drainage

Kenya's rapidly expanding satellite towns are coming under growing pressure to upgrade infrastructure and planning, as developers add housing supply without a corresponding expansion of roads, drainage, water and other essential services.

Speaking at the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) 2026 Convention in Diani, Acting Housing Secretary Cassius Kusienya, delivering a keynote on behalf of Principal Secretary Charles Hinga, said Kenya's urban systems were struggling to keep pace with population growth. He pointed to failed drainage, washed-out roads, saline wells, overheated buildings and settlements located on flood-prone land as signs of growing climate and infrastructure risk.

An AAK Status of the Built Environment report found that only 43 per cent of 1,333 buildings audited by the National Building Inspectorate in the 2023/24 financial year were certified completely safe for human use. Another 42 buildings, three per cent of those inspected, were classified as dangerous and requiring immediate testing or demolition, while 246 (18 per cent) were unsafe and 453 (34 per cent) were rated fair.

Professionals said the findings increase pressure for stronger enforcement as construction expands into satellite towns and peri-urban areas, and warned that developers may face higher costs where projects require additional spending on drainage, road access, water, sanitation and climate adaptation, while poorly planned developments could need costly retrofitting.

The Government's Affordable Housing Programme is adding to the scale of construction, with more than 280,000 units reported to be under development across about 40 counties and more than one million registrations on the Boma Yangu platform. Zimbabwe Institute of Quantity Surveyors president Audily Chatora said resilience should be incorporated into decisions across the built environment rather than treated as an additional feature of construction.