The Municipality of Ngong is one of the municipalities within Kajiado County in Kenya; it was established through a Municipal charter granted by H.E. Joseph Ole Lenku, the Governor Kajiado County Government on 10th December 2018.
It borders Kiambu County to the North and Nairobi City County to the North-East. Her coordinates fall between longitudes 036° 33′ 05.26153333″ E, 036° 49′ 17.02130760″ E and latitudes 01° 16′ 59.84989050″ S, 01° 28′ 31.49225319″ S and covers an area of 261.26km2.
The Municipality of Ngong shares close proximity to the city of Nairobi and is a key recipient of developments spill over occasioned by the expansion of the city.
Locally, it straddles Kajiado North Sub-County covering Ngong, Oloolua, Olkeri, Nkaimurunya and Ongata Rongai Wards. It also covers some part of Kajiado West Sub-County covering the southern regions of Ewuaso Oo Nkidong’i ward and a part of Keekonyokie Ward.
Ngong Municipality has three major urban centres namely Ngong, Ongata Rongai and Kiserian. These towns are witnessing rapid urbanization indicating their potential for growth and development. The rising number of residents and urbanization is what befitted the area the status of a municipality. As per the 2019 Census, the Municipality of Ngong has a total population of 344,724 people; male population at 169,437 and the female population at 175,287.
The main physical features of the Municipality are spread across an altitude of 1700m above sea level at Kiserian to 2,460m above sea level in Ngong’ Hills. This is characterised by plains, valleys and occasional volcanic hills. The hills afford a panoramic view of Nairobi City to the north, Nairobi National Park game reserve to the east and the Great Rift Valley, dropping over 4,000 feet below, to the west.
The region is rich in natural drainage channels that form rivers, and at times floods along the riparian areas as a result of storm water flowing from the Ngong’ hills. High elevations and steep slopes are found at Ngong’ especially at the Ngong’ Hills and therefore constraining infrastructural developments on the hills. It, however, favours sporting activities taken advantage by Kenyan athletes for practice.
There are also agricultural activities in the area. Kiserian is located on a low elevation area at the foot of Ngong’ Hills. As alluded to earlier, flash floods from Ngong’ hills and parts of Magadi Road flow in to impeding mobility and deters investment in the town. Ongata Rongai is situated on relatively flat land with an undulating slope, which is suitable for development particularly in real estate.
24% of the Municipality of Ngong is covered in indigenous forests; Ngong’ hills, Kibiko and Oloolua. The forests are, however, endangered due to encroachments by human settlements and Activities like farming and charcoal burning.
The main economic sectors within the municipality include commerce, real estate, hospitality, transportation, and light industrial activities. However, agriculture and livestock remain a major sector of the local economy. These sectors are the main catalysts of the economic growth in the Municipality.
The Municipality of Ngong has 35 Public Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) facilities centres, 14 public primary schools, 16 public secondary schools and 12 adult education centres.
The cooperative movement is the bedrock of the Kenyan economy, in Ngong’ Municipality, there are 35 active cooperatives operating in the transport, housing, agricultural, trade, financial and dairy sectors.
73.43 per cent of the road network in the municipality are poor in quality while 22.01 per cent are fair quality. Only a mere 3.35 per cent of the roads are of good quality. 1.2 per cent of the roads are of very poor quality. Of the roads in the Municipality 54 kilometres are tarmacked (bitumen), 65.43 kilo meters are gravel, 1.1 kilometres are paved with cabro and 4.07 kilometres paved with other materials.
The Municipality has 3 public health facilities and 45 private registered facilities, with many more unregistered.