Plan for Sun-Hogging Tower Angers Kenyans
By JANE PERLEZ, Special to The New York Times
Published: November 26, 1989
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov. 25— The construction of the tallest office tower in Africa on a sprawling, tree-studded city park here has provoked unusual popular hostility in a country where opposition to official projects is voiced with care.
With arguments long familiar to New Yorkers, local environmentalists have charged that the 60-story concrete-and-glass structure will turn Nairobi, now a pleasant, airy mix of city and country, into ''the gray city in the shade'' by blocking the bright African sun.
Ordinary people writing to the newspapers have deplored the taking of Uhuru Park, a favorite lunch spot dedicated 20 years ago by the country's founder, Jomo Kenyatta, for the sake of what they see as another effort to aggrandize the country's sole political party, the Kenya African National Union, the prime backer of the project.
Plans call for a large statue of President Daniel arap Moi at the complex, which will include a conference center, the headquarters of the party newspaper, The Kenya Times, and the home of a second television station to be owned by The Kenya Times Media Trust.
It was announced in Parliament on Thursday that the Kenyan Government would guarantee foreign loans to finance most of the $200 million cost.
Some critics noted that the ground-breaking ceremony last week came as the World Bank issued a report classifying Kenya among the low-income African nations, with an economy that declined by an average of of 0.9 percent a year from 1980 to 1987.
Adding credibility and zest to the criticism has been the protest of Prof. Wangari Mathai, the leader of the national Green Belt Movement of Kenya and often praised in the past by President Moi for her leadership by women.
Urging that the complex be built elsewhere ''because the merits of having Uhuru Park greatly outweigh a 60-story concrete monument,'' she joined in a lawsuit filed on Friday with the Kenyan High Court to try to stop the building on the grounds that rules for the acquisition of the land were not followed.
After voicing her objections, Professor Mathai was denounced in a packed session of Parliament. An Assistant Minister, John Keen, who works in the office of the President, warned her ''and her clique of women'' to tread cautiously. ''I don't see the sense at all in a bunch of divorcees coming out to criticize,'' he said.
Another legislator said he was outraged that Professor Mathai had also voiced her opposition in a letter to the British High Commission, among others. ''Why does she not know Kenya is a sovereign state?'' asked the member. She had written to the British, Professor Mathai said, because the British press magnate, Robert Maxwell, was joint owner with the ruling party of the Kenya Times Media Trust.
British architects have designed the tower which will be built of concrete and sheathed in imported glass, aluminium and steel. At 60 stories, the building will be one of the tallest concrete projects in the world, according to a British architect working here.
Nairobi has a number of substantial buildings, tallest among them the 28-story Kenyatta Conference Center, owned by the ruling party. The city needs more office space, real estate specialists say, but they question the economic feasibility of the new tower.
''It will be a prestige address,'' said one. ''But I don't think they can ask an economic rent for it.''
By JANE PERLEZ, Special to The New York Times
Published: November 26, 1989
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov. 25— The construction of the tallest office tower in Africa on a sprawling, tree-studded city park here has provoked unusual popular hostility in a country where opposition to official projects is voiced with care.
With arguments long familiar to New Yorkers, local environmentalists have charged that the 60-story concrete-and-glass structure will turn Nairobi, now a pleasant, airy mix of city and country, into ''the gray city in the shade'' by blocking the bright African sun.
Ordinary people writing to the newspapers have deplored the taking of Uhuru Park, a favorite lunch spot dedicated 20 years ago by the country's founder, Jomo Kenyatta, for the sake of what they see as another effort to aggrandize the country's sole political party, the Kenya African National Union, the prime backer of the project.
Plans call for a large statue of President Daniel arap Moi at the complex, which will include a conference center, the headquarters of the party newspaper, The Kenya Times, and the home of a second television station to be owned by The Kenya Times Media Trust.
It was announced in Parliament on Thursday that the Kenyan Government would guarantee foreign loans to finance most of the $200 million cost.
Some critics noted that the ground-breaking ceremony last week came as the World Bank issued a report classifying Kenya among the low-income African nations, with an economy that declined by an average of of 0.9 percent a year from 1980 to 1987.
Adding credibility and zest to the criticism has been the protest of Prof. Wangari Mathai, the leader of the national Green Belt Movement of Kenya and often praised in the past by President Moi for her leadership by women.
Urging that the complex be built elsewhere ''because the merits of having Uhuru Park greatly outweigh a 60-story concrete monument,'' she joined in a lawsuit filed on Friday with the Kenyan High Court to try to stop the building on the grounds that rules for the acquisition of the land were not followed.
After voicing her objections, Professor Mathai was denounced in a packed session of Parliament. An Assistant Minister, John Keen, who works in the office of the President, warned her ''and her clique of women'' to tread cautiously. ''I don't see the sense at all in a bunch of divorcees coming out to criticize,'' he said.
Another legislator said he was outraged that Professor Mathai had also voiced her opposition in a letter to the British High Commission, among others. ''Why does she not know Kenya is a sovereign state?'' asked the member. She had written to the British, Professor Mathai said, because the British press magnate, Robert Maxwell, was joint owner with the ruling party of the Kenya Times Media Trust.
British architects have designed the tower which will be built of concrete and sheathed in imported glass, aluminium and steel. At 60 stories, the building will be one of the tallest concrete projects in the world, according to a British architect working here.
Nairobi has a number of substantial buildings, tallest among them the 28-story Kenyatta Conference Center, owned by the ruling party. The city needs more office space, real estate specialists say, but they question the economic feasibility of the new tower.
''It will be a prestige address,'' said one. ''But I don't think they can ask an economic rent for it.''
