New Law to Compel Road Contractors to Replace Harvested Trees
By John Kariuki
Dagoretti South Member of Parliament John Kiarie has moved a motion that will require the Government to include a component of tree planting in all road network designs and also makes it compulsory for road contractors to replace any tree harvested during road construction upon completion of the project.
The motion on tree planting along roadsides and road reserves was seconded by Hon. Wanjiku Muhia, MP Kipipiri Constituency
Mr Kiarie’s move comes at a time when the entire globe is fighting climate change and burning midnight oil to come up with mitigation measures.
This has been the main agenda for Cop 27 Summit which is currently underway in Egypt.
In advocating for the motion, the lawmaker argues that Article 42 of the Constitution accords every person the right to clean and healthy environment and Article 69 (1) (d) also mandates the State to encourage public participation in the management, protection and conservation of the environment.
The motion comes at a time there has been a huge uproar over tree harvesting for road construction and expansion with a case in point being the recent construction of the 27-kilometer expressway in Nairobi.
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