Guide · NEMA environmental licences · Updated 2026-10-19
NEMA Comprehensive Project Report (CPR) in Nairobi
A Comprehensive Project Report (CPR) is the fuller environmental impact assessment report NEMA asks for when its schedule places a project at medium risk. It describes the project and its site, the people consulted, each likely effect and how it will be managed. Many building projects in Nairobi go this way. A NEMA-registered expert prepares it and lodges it on ENVIS.
When you need it
- Screening against NEMA’s schedule of projects (Legal Notice No. 31 of 2019) places the project at medium risk.
- NEMA has reviewed a summary report and asked for more.
Who prepares it and applies
A NEMA-registered environmental expert prepares it and submits it for the proponent — the person or company carrying out the project. Applications are made online on ENVIS, NEMA’s licensing system.
Check the site before you apply
Most of what a NEMA report describes is already on the map. Check these first:
| Check | Where | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| The plot and its number | Search the map by LR, block or FR number | Every report and licence names the plot. Make sure the parcel on the map is the land the project is on. |
| What the zone allows | Its zone page, or tap the plot on the map | A report describes the project against the county’s planning rules: floors, plot ratio, ground coverage and use. |
| Rivers, wetlands and riparian land | The rivers and water bodies layers on the map | Work near a river or a wetland raises a project’s effects, and can need separate consent from NEMA and the Water Resources Authority. |
| Airport height limits | Airport height limits | Near JKIA and Wilson, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority can limit height below what the zone allows. |
| Where wastewater goes | The Trunk sewer layer, and connecting to the sewer | Into a public sewer, it is agreed with the water company. Anywhere else, it needs NEMA’s effluent discharge licence. |
| Roads and access | The roads layer on the map | Traffic, noise and dust while building are effects every report covers. |
| Who lives around it | The census population layers on the map | The expert must consult the people a project affects; the census says how many live around it. |
| What NEMA has licensed around it | The NEMA layers on the map | Neighbouring projects, and the emission and effluent licences near the site, are part of what the site already lives with. |
| The right to the land | An official search on Ardhisasa | The proponent must own the land or have the owner’s consent. Reports usually include a copy of the title. |
| The county’s approval | Building and planning approval | NEMA’s licence and Nairobi City County’s approval are separate. A project needs each one that applies to it before work starts. |
How the application moves
- Screen the project. A NEMA-registered expert reads the project against NEMA’s schedule of projects (Legal Notice No. 31 of 2019), which places it at low, medium or high risk. The risk decides the report.
- Check the site. The plot, its zone, the rivers, roads and airports around it, and what NEMA has already licensed there — on the map, before a page is written.
- Prepare the report. The expert describes the project and its site, consults the people and bodies it may affect, and writes an environmental management plan: how each effect will be avoided, reduced or managed.
- Submit on ENVIS. The report is lodged online on NEMA’s licensing system, and its fee is paid. NEMA may also ask for printed copies of a comprehensive project report or a study report.
- NEMA reviews it. NEMA reads the report, may visit the site and may ask for more information. It can accept the report, or ask for a fuller one.
- The decision. NEMA issues an EIA licence with conditions, or refuses. A decision can be appealed to the National Environment Tribunal.
- After the licence. Build and run the project as licensed, keep to the conditions, and keep records for the environmental audits that follow.
How long it takes
NEMA does not publish one time for every case. A summary report moves faster than a full study, which waits for its public comment period. Incomplete reports and missing documents — the title, the drawings, a change of use where the county needs one — are the usual causes of delay. Follow the application on ENVIS.
After the licence
If NEMA accepts the report, it issues an EIA licence with conditions; it can also ask for a full study. Once work starts, keep to the conditions and keep records: running projects are followed up by environmental audits.
On the map: the NEMA layers
Comprehensive Project Report records are in the map’s Project reports layer, one of three NEMA layers. Each record carries its licence and application numbers, the proponent it was issued to, the kind of licence, and the plot or LR number where the report gave one. It sits where NEMA’s licensing system drew the site — a point, a boundary or a line. A record whose report states a position far from that site is flagged, as a prompt to confirm the plot. Applications with no drawn site are not on the map.
The NEMA layers are add-on layers: each is bought once, on any plan, and kept — see plans and pricing.
Why start on Nairobi Maps
Every NEMA report starts from the site: where it is, what may be built there, and what is around it. Nairobi Maps holds those facts for every parcel in Nairobi on one map — the plot by its LR, block or FR number, its zone worked out for the plot, survey plans, rivers and roads, airport height limits, census population, and what NEMA has already licensed nearby. The owner, the architect and the expert start from the same facts. The whole checklist is in built-environment due diligence in Nairobi.
Questions
How long does a NEMA Comprehensive Project Report take?
NEMA does not publish one time for every case. A summary report moves faster than a full study, which waits for its public comment period. Incomplete reports and missing documents — the title, the drawings, a change of use where the county needs one — are the usual causes of delay. Follow the application on ENVIS.
What is the difference between a Summary and a Comprehensive Project Report?
Their depth, and the risk they are for. A summary report is for low-risk projects. A comprehensive report, for medium risk, covers the site, the people consulted and each effect in more detail. A high-risk project needs a full study instead.
Does a Comprehensive Project Report need public participation?
Yes. The expert consults the people and bodies the project may affect — neighbours, local leaders, the county — and the report shows how: meetings, questionnaires and their records.
Is Nairobi Maps part of NEMA?
No. Nairobi Maps is an independent map of Nairobi’s land, its planning rules and the records around them, for checking a site before you apply. NEMA decides every licence, on ENVIS.
Nairobi Maps is not part of NEMA. This guide explains the usual route under EMCA and NEMA’s regulations; requirements, fees and steps change, so confirm them with NEMA on ENVIS and with a registered expert.
Keep going
- All NEMA licencesWhich report your project needs, and how each one works
- NEMA Summary Project Report (SPR)The shortest EIA report, for low-risk projects.
- EIA study report and terms of referenceThe full EIA study, for high-risk projects.
- NEMA environmental auditThe check on a project that is already running.
- NEMA effluent discharge licencePermission to discharge wastewater into the environment.
- Building and planning approvalThe county’s half of the permission, on NPDMS