Guide · NEMA environmental licences · Updated 2026-10-19

NEMA Summary Project Report (SPR) in Nairobi

A Summary Project Report (SPR) is the shortest form of environmental impact assessment (EIA) — the study of how a project could affect the land, water, air and people around it. NEMA asks for one when its schedule places a project at low risk. A NEMA-registered expert prepares it and lodges it online on ENVIS, NEMA’s licensing system.

Check the site on the map Apply on ENVIS (NEMA)

When you need it

Screening against NEMA’s schedule of projects (Legal Notice No. 31 of 2019) places the project at low risk.
A bank, the county or a contractor asks for the project’s EIA licence before it goes ahead.

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.
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 is satisfied, it issues an EIA licence with conditions. If the report shows effects a summary cannot cover, NEMA can ask for a fuller report instead. Changes to the project later need a variation of the licence, and a new owner a transfer.

On the map: the NEMA layers

Summary 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 Summary Project Report take?

Is a Summary Project Report the same as an EIA licence?

No. The report is what you submit; the EIA licence is what NEMA issues once it accepts the report. The licence carries conditions the project must keep to.

Can I prepare a Summary Project Report myself?

No. EMCA requires EIA reports to be prepared by experts NEMA has registered and licensed. NEMA keeps a public register of them.

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.