Ongata Rongai, also locally known as Rongai or simply Rongaa, is a settlement in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

's Rift Valley Province located between the Kaputiei plains and the Western slopes of the Ngong hills

Ngong Hills

The Ngong Hills are peaks in a ridge along the Great Rift Valley, located southwest near Nairobi, in southern Kenya. The word "Ngong" is a Maasai word meaning "knuckles"...

 all within Kajiado District

Kajiado District

Kajiado District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It has a population of 406,054 and an area of 21,903 km². The district borders Nairobi city and extends to the Kenya-Tanzania border further south. The district capital is Kajiado.The district is divided into seven...

. It is a fast developing residential urban aggregation in the outskirts of Nairobi with a population of 35,000 in the 1999 National Census but currently estimated between 66,042 and 147,000. The city is situated 17 km south of Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, the capital city of Kenya and lies at 1731 m (5682 ft) a.s.l.

Origins

Rongai began in the late 1950's in two locations. First as a cattle market in present day ongata rongai shopping centre(first stage)and as a stone mining township in present day Kware (quarry) and Gataka areas.The two centers then spread linearly towards each other.Since the early 1990's rapid development allowed them to join together into a high density urban aggregation making up what is now Ongata Rongai proper covering around 16 square kilometers.However greater ongata rongai is a medium to low density area and includes Kandisi,Rimpa,Nkoroi,merisho,olekasasi,tuala and Maasai lodge areas and covers a much larger area.

Geography

Rongai is a multi-class area which is however dominated by the middle-class.Although largely a metropolitan district of Nairobi it does not fall within the administrative boundaries of the city and is separated from Nairobi city proper by Mbagathi river.It is itself divided into two administrative locations i.e Nkaimurunya and Rongai which are separated by Magadi road.Within Ongata Rongai there is the Kandisi river which is a tributary to the Mbagathi river.Rongai's population is relatively quite affluent by all standards and in terms of purchasing power it surpasses many well to do suburbs of Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

 such as Langata

Langata

Lang'ata is a suburb of Nairobi in Kenya, lying south west of the city centre and east of Karen. The suburb consists of many smaller housing developments, referred to as estates. They include Nairobi Dam, Otiende, Southlands, Ngei, Jambo estate, Onyonka, Madaraka Estate and many others...

 and Kasarani

Kasarani

Kasarani is a residential area in Nairobi Kenya. It is in the Eastern part of Nairobi, about 10 km from the city centre along Thika Road. It is thought that the name Kasarani originated from a river that flows through the area which has the Kikuyu name Gathara-ini River...

 whereby it is roughly at par with Buruburu

Buruburu

Buruburu is a large middle-class residential area in the Eastlands part of Nairobi, Kenya, situated in Makadara Division. Buruburu Estate comprises five phases, one being the oldest, with the fifth completed in 1982. Most of the houses resemble modern architecture of white buildings with striking...

.However it is expected to surpass Buruburu in a year or two given its extra-ordinary growthrate and its peri-urban nature which avails plenty of land for urban residential expansion unlike Buruburu which has reached what would be referred to as its urban residential maxima. This is clearly evident in the fact that for example it hosts Tusky's supermarket which is currently the most profitable Tusky's supermarket chain in Kenya.Also the fact that Rongai has better urban aesthetic appeal compared to most other peri-urban areas of Nairobi especially those that fall within or are close to Kiambu county such as the Dagoretti

Dagoretti

Dagoretti refers to an area in western Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Administratively it is one of eight divisions of Nairobi. The Dagoretti division is divided into six Locations...

 area,Gachie, Banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

,Kinoo and Githurai 45 which are equally high potential areas but are victims of poor urban policy and endemic neglect. It has two major industrial ventures i.e Kitengela glass an artefacts manufacturer tucked away in the far-flung Tuala township area and Tam feeds an agro-processing industry located in Gataka.

Infrastructure and local governance

Rongai is quite noticeable for its serious lack of infrastructure, lighting and social amenities compared to the population it holds, as a matter of fact it is one of the few fast growing urban centres in the world without a municipal authority hence its development faces serious planning challenges.Although an overall physical plan has been done and continues to be updated by the ministry of lands it is quite difficult to implement it because of the lack of a viable local government.It must be noted that various attempts have been made to improve the situation but they have largely failed.The first serious attempt at settling Rongai's infrastructural deficit was in the early ninetys when the Chinese government advised that Rongai would grow to be one of the major metropolitan districts of Nairobi and even offered funds for infrastructural development.These funds were probably embezzled.The olkejuado county council has on two occasions advertized tenders for construction of roads,markets and bus parks but these have never materialized.Previously the victory construction company was assigned by the government to put up drainage along Magadi Road but they never completed the job and actually created a mess by leaving the open trenches uncemented.All these just goes to show how much Rongai is a victim of poor governance and corruption and unless the Kenyan urban leadership and thinking is changed things look very dim for Rongai. Mounds of garbage have become quite common and unplanned informal businesses are mushrooming at an alarming rate. Traffic jams in Rongai are quite sickening and are caused by lack of a road network such that only one bitumen standard road serves the entire population of Rongai. Furthermore, existing roads are too narrow to allow free flow of traffic and are also untarmacked.There is also a lack of enforcement of urban by-laws,Donkeys for example should not be allowed since they cause unnecessary traffic snarl-ups,they eat away vegetation by the roadside and litter the place with faeces which is a health hazard since it is through donkey faeces that tetenus spreads.Furthermore donkeys are not allowed in other urban centers in Kenya why should Rongai be an exception?

Challenges

Rongai's problems are largely caused by three factors corruption,political interferrence and neglect. Its mediocrity in terms of planning and service provision can be attributed to four factors. Firstly the local authority in charge of the area i.e the Olkejuado county council is to blame they are apparently lazy, corrupt and inefficient due to their lack of clear organisational structure and the fact that it is a largely rural council which was never constituted for urban management , they are toothless in matters relating to Rongai. Secondly, there is lack of political will from the local area MP and councillors to take responsibility and act on pressing issues and in many cases they are part of the problem since they perpetrate corruption and political interferrence, a good example is the roadside market in kware which is not only an eyesore but a healthhazard which is there due to political reasons and cannot be done away with so long as the current leadership is incharge. Thirdly, the central government has clearly neglected Rongai. For example despite its ever growing urban population the area has never been granted even township status and it is quite unclear what Rongai is today. Going by its population it should be a fully-fledged municipality by now. The government has also consistently failed to commit public resources to Rongai. Lastly, the complacency of Rongai's population cannot escape blame; this is however due to the lack of unity common in areas with mixed populations like Rongai such that, while the rich and middle class populations would like to see a clean, well-organized Rongai, the poor would actually prefer a Rongai friendly to informal business which would eventually lead to disorder even with reasonable planning. This way citizens of Rongai do not speak with one voice. It is quite unfortunate that the same situation facing Rongai has been replicated in other satellite towns of Nairobi that fall within Kajiado county which are Kitengela

Kitengela

Kitengela is a plain in Kenya, located south of capital Nairobi. There is also a town named Kitengela in the area.Close to Nairobi National Park is also the Kitengela Game Conservation Area populated with buffalo, masai giraffe, black rhino, eland, impala, Grant's and Thomson's gazelle, common and...

, Ngong

Ngong, Kenya

Ngong is a town near the Ngong Hills along the Great Rift Valley, located in the southwest of Nairobi, in southern Kenya. The word "Ngong" is a Maasai word meaning "knuckles"...

 and Kiserian

Kiserian

Kiserian is a settlement in Kenya's Rift Valley Province....

. New housing developments are however changing the face of the area this are such as Osupuko Estate, Acacia Valley Estate and Selengei Villas. There also residents organisations such as the Nkoroi North Residents Association who are helping in planning of Rongai.

Education

This area is home to a number of reputable institutions such as the Africa Nazarene University

Africa Nazarene University

Africa Nazarene University is a liberal arts university located in Ongata Rongai, Kenya affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. It is the first Nazarene liberal arts university established outside of the United States...

, the Maxwell Adventist Academy which is the headquarter of seventhday adventists in east,central and southern Africa and the Laiser-Hill school.