The iconic Uhuru Park in Nairobi is expected to be dazzling once renovation works are complete.
According to a master plan by Nairobi Metropolitan Services, the new look Uhuru Park will comprise a modern garden with waterfronts.
The green spaces will feature among other amenities; a plant nursery, skating park, nature trail, outdoor library, jogging and cycling tracks, maintenance yard, offices and shearer garden.
It will also feature several eateries and high-end hotels. The iconic Nyayo statue and Mau Mau freedom fighters monuments have been maintained as well as a more defined freedom corner in remembrance of Prof. Wangari Maathai.
The park will also house a monument to honour health workers who lost their lives battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
The parks, which have been fenced all around have two gates each manned by General Service Unit (GSU) officers round the clock.
The rehabilitation of the park is on the homestretch with President Uhuru Kenyatta expected to preside over the reopening before leaving office in August.
The parks were closed last year after the Nairobi County Assembly on September 28, 2021, approved the decision to give the park a much-needed facelift.
The County Assembly stated that it was disturbed that if the state of disrepair of Uhuru Park and Central Park was not remedied, they risked “losing their appeal, historical significance and recognition.”
A section of Kenyans had expressed concerns that the Uhuru Park land had been leased to a private investor but President Uhuru Kenyatta refuted those claims.
The 12.9-hectare recreational park adjacent to the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) was opened to the general public by Jomo Kenyatta on May 23, 1969.
