Nairobi governor Mike Sonko with his Deputy Polycarp Igathe [Photo/standard]

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Property owners in Nairobi may soon start to pay taxes on both their land and the development on them.

According to Deputy Governor Polycarp Igathe, the move is aimed at boosting revenue.

 Speaking on Tuesday, Igathe said only 120,000 properties are ratable yet the county has over 1.6 million buildings.

“Revenue collection is a disaster in Nairobi. We are not compliant, but we are all very entitled to services.

"Cities are run with property taxes and in Nairobi, these contribute 36 per cent because compliance is very low. We are fixing this through digitisation and amending the valuation roll,” Mr Igathe said.

Mr Igathe said that the Sectional Properties Act 1987 amendments will enable City Hall to charge rates for each property.

“We will eventually eliminate cash handling and minimise human intervention to this process as only 10 per cent of properties in Nairobi pay rates.

"We are working closely with Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Power and Nairobi Water Company to integrate our databases and collect taxes more efficiently,” he said in a statement.