Tanzania, March 28 -- Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on the weekend broke the hearts of some with very strong statements that the construction of high-rise apartments in the Kenyan capital's upmarket neighbourhoods of Kileleshwa and Lavington will not stop.

"I have heard people complaining that [in the] areas of Kileleshwa and Lavington, our homes were one-storey now apartments have come. Nairobi is 696 square kilometres. In 2050 it will have a population of 10.5 million people. Will we expand Nairobi? No, the only place we have to go is up", he said.

The high-rise sprawl is spreading like wildfire to several other suburbs beyond Kileleshwa and Lavington, with water and mobility infrastructure already severely stressed under the weight...