Nairobi City County has advanced plans to redevelop Sunken Park in the Central Business District (CBD) into a multi-storey mobility hub designed to accommodate thousands of vehicles daily.
According to the Kenya Public Private Partnership Projects Progress and Status Report dated September 30, the project’s concept note was approved on September 8, allowing it to proceed to a feasibility study before progressing through the procurement process.
The proposed facility will provide 3,800 structured parking spaces and serve an estimated 5,700 vehicles each day.
It will replace the existing surface parking lot, which has only 240 spaces, at the junction of Taifa Road and Harambee Avenue.
Kenyatta Avenue after the facelift by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
NMS
“The project entails the redevelopment of the Sunken Park, located at the junction of Taifa Road and Harambee Avenue, into a modern, high-capacity Multi-Use Storey Mobility Hub under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework,” the report stated.
The development is intended to tackle the shortage of organised parking in the CBD while reducing traffic congestion and making better use of public land.
According to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Directorate, its procurement will follow a competitive bidding process under a public-private partnership framework, although the estimated project cost has not yet been determined.
The latest development comes as finding parking in the city centre becomes increasingly difficult for motorists amid ongoing beautification works and the expansion of pedestrian walkways.
Plans to establish an underground parking facility at Sunken Park were first announced in March 2021 by then-Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Director General Mohammed Badi.
At the time, NMS also proposed converting Machakos Bus Station into an underground parking centre to increase capacity for vehicles in the city.
Badi had said the planned facilities would draw inspiration from the underground parking at Holy Family Basilica and feature digitally managed payments through mobile money.
The current project comes amid ongoing concerns over parking costs in Nairobi, after Governor Johnson Sakaja dismissed reports in July that daily CBD parking fees had risen from Ksh300 to Ksh535.
Sakaja clarified that the Ksh535 figure in its 2025–2030 tariffs policy represented the average cost of providing parking services, not an approved charge, and that any fee increase would require public participation and approval through the annual Finance Act.
The Sunken Park redevelopment forms part of broader efforts to improve urban mobility and optimise land use in Nairobi, alongside the proposed Ksh30 billion Nairobi Railway City project by Kenya Railways, which will cover 438 acres in the CBD and feature integrated transport facilities, commercial developments, housing and public spaces.
An image of a section of Nairobi's central business district at night captured on February 9, 2026.
Photo
Sakaja