An integrated Spatial Plan for Balanced and Sustainable National Development Mandera Moyale Lodwar Wajir AIR AIR Isiolo Kakamega Eldoret WATER AIR Meru Garissa Nakuru Kisumu Mwingi Thika Nairobi Kitui AIR Machakos Kajiado Lamu AIR WATER Kilifi Mombasa AIR Diani WATER APPROVAL CERTIFIED Director of Physical Planning DATE________________________________________________________________________ APPROVED Cabinet Secretary for Lands and Physical Planning DATE_______________________________________________________________________ APPROVED PLAN NO.____________________________________________________ National Spatial Plan, 2015-2045 FOREWORD This National Spatial Plan has been prepared by the National Department of Physical Planning, in the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning within its mandate of preparing national policies on physical planning. This is an important milestone not only for the Ministry but also for the country having been identified as a flagship project under Kenya Vision 2030. The Plan is timely coming at a time when the country is involved in many initiatives to transform into a globally competitive and prosperous nation. The approval of the National Spatial Plan marks an important landmark in our country‟s development agenda. The Plan details the national spatial vision that will guide the long term spatial development of the country for a period of 30 years. It covers the entire territory of Kenya and defines the general trend and direction of spatial development for the country. It aims at achieving an organized, integrated, sustainable and balanced development of the country, hence informing the future use and distribution of activities by providing a framework for better national organization and linkages between different activities within the national space. Land as we all know is inelastic yet it has many competing land uses. Land in Kenya has not been optimally utilized and its use has in some instances resulted into conflicts. The National Spatial Plan provides a framework for the efficient, productive and sustainable use of land as advocated for in both the Constitution and the National Land Policy. Further, it provides strategies and policies to facilitate sustainable exploitation of the huge potentials the country possesses for agriculture, tourism, energy, water, fishing and forestry. It is expected to reduce regional inequalities that have existed by ensuring that these regions are no longer perceived as low potential but as differently endowed. The National Spatial Plan supports the implementation of strategic national projects specifically the flagship projects spelt out under Kenya Vision 2030 by indicating their spatial locations and providing a framework for absorbing the spatial impacts of these projects. It provides a coordinating framework for sectoral planning which has been lacking in the country and it aims to address the disconnect that has existed for a long time between physical and economic planning. This is expected to result in more prudent use of the country‟s scarce resources as the Plan provides a platform for prioritization of programmes and projects within the implementation mechanism. The Plan is essential at this point when devolution is taking shape as it will provide a guide for development planning by the counties as they discharge their responsibility of preparing county and local plans. The National Spatial Plan provides physical planning policies which the plans at county level are expected to articulate and propagate. These policies include protection of rich agricultural land, conservation of identified environmentally sensitive areas, urban containment, and promotion of industrial development, among others. i Department of Physical Planning National Spatial Plan, 2015-2045 Since independence, the country has grappled with a myriad of problems and challenges such as rapid and unregulated urbanization, environmental degradation of the country‟s diverse ecosystems, skewed/unbalanced development due to the implementation of policies in favor of high potential areas, poor economic performance in the areas of agriculture, tourism and industry due to sub-optimal use of land and underutilization of the rich natural resource endowment. Other challenges include inadequate and poor quality transport and infrastructure, sub-optimal utilization of land and other natural resources and an inadequate national policy framework for guiding spatial planning leading to uncoordinated development planning. The National Spatial Plan provides a framework for dealing with these challenges through the formulation of planning and development strategies, policies and measures under which projects and other priority programmes will be implemented for the next 30 years. The approach adopted during the preparation of the Plan was highly participatory, collaborative and consultative and it brought on board participants from diverse backgrounds including ministries, departments, agencies, county governments, professionals, civil society, non-state actors among others. This is not only in conformity with the Constitutional requirements on public participation in policy making but it is hoped that this will provide the requisite basis for the implementation of the Plan. Therefore as a nation, we must prioritize the implementation of this policy document so as promote equity and competitiveness within and across the 47 counties. For the country to be globally competitive, we need to balance development across the country and promote optimal utilization of land and land based resources as well as to cultivate an integrated approach to development in order to address the intertwined problems of regional imbalances, skewed development and unsustainable human settlements. Let us all individually and collectively commit ourselves to the realization of the development policies and strategies contained herein and continue working together in order to build a competitive, equitable and prosperous Nation. CABINET SECRETARY MINISTRY OF LANDS AND PHYSICAL PLANNING ii Department of Physical Planning National Spatial Plan, 2015-2045 PREFACE Land is a finite resource that has to be properly managed in order to reap maximum benefits thus the need for a spatial framework to guide its utilization. The National Spatial Plan (NSP) is a national spatial vision that guides the long term spatial development of the country. The Plan is a flagship project identified under Kenya Vision 2030 as one of the foundations for socio- economic transformation. It aims at achieving an organized, integrated, sustainable and balanced development of the country. NSP will inform the future use and distribution of activities by providing a framework for better national organization and linkages between different activities within the national space. The Plan has been prepared within the framework of the Constitution. It seeks to achieve promises Kenyans furnished themselves under the new Constitution like the right to economy; the need for balanced development across the country, the right to a clean and healthy environment and the right to property among others. It also lays a foundation on which Article 66, on regulation of land uses, Article 68, on maximum and minimum land holding sizes and Article 69 on Environment will be achieved. Other Acts include the Physical Planning Act (CAP 286), the NLC Act 2012 and the Land Act 2012 of the Laws of Kenya. The Plan covers the entire country and encompasses all the 47 counties. The Plan recognizes that Kenya as a country has various resources that require to be managed in a concerted effort. The NSP methodological process commenced with the preparation of a concept paper. Benchmarking through desktop research was adopted in order to draw useful lessons from good global practices. Locally, experts drawn from various public and private sectors were brought on board to provide key technical inputs and to contribute their expertise and experiences. Stakeholders drawn from all the counties presented their views which were later incorporated in the document. An interpretative synthesis of this data was employed to formulate the strategies and policies for all the varied pertinent sectors. The National Spatial Plan, which covers a long term period of thirty years (30) from 2015-2045, addresses land use, socio-economic and environmental issues to achieve balanced and sustainable spatial development and optimal land use across the country. The Plan provides comprehensive strategies and policy guidelines to deal with issues of rural and urban development, modernizing agriculture, infrastructure, energy production, mining and industry, and sustainable human settlements. It will provide a spatial framework for anchoring Vision 2030 flagship projects. The Plan is also a coordinating framework for various sectors involved in spatial planning and implementation. Last but not least the NSP forms the basis upon which lower level plans in the country shall be prepared which include Regional Plans, County Spatial Plans, Local Physical Development Plans and Urban Plans. iii Department of Physical Planning National Spatial Plan, 2015-2045 The Plan took a longer time than anticipated due to the challenges of gathering information due to lack of up-to-date national spatial data framework. This was resolved by engaging all the sectors in the plan preparation process. It is my expectation that the National Spatial Plan being the first to be prepared in the country and coming at a time when devolution is taking