Embakasi is a neighbourhood in the city of

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

. It is approximately , southeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. Embakasi is considered part of Nairobi's Eastlands area, lying to the south-east of Nairobi County. The Embakasi proper covers other estates in Eastlands such as

Donholm Donholm or Doonholm is a commercial and residential neighbourhood in Nairobi. A legacy of what was a dairy farm with the same name, Donholm is a suburb in the Eastlands area of Nairobi. It is located east of the Nairobi central business district ...

Pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

, Tena, and Makadara estates. It borders

South C South C (also known as Southside or South Compton) is a middle-class residential estate located in the southland area of Nairobi. South C lies next to Wilson Airport. It is bordered by South B to the East, Langata Estate to the west and the Nairo ...

and contains South B and slightly more than one third of Nairobi's Industrial Area and Export Processing Zones. Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is located in Embakasi and it was known as Embakasi Airport when it was launched in 1958. Embakasi Airport in 1958 now JKIA

Embakasi Sub-county

The sub-county borrows its name from the neighbourhood and covers part of what was Embakasi Constituency, and is one of the eleven sub-counties in Nairobi. It has a land area of . In the 2019 census, Embakasi had a population of 988,808, accounting for more than 22% of the total population of the county, and a population density of 11,460/km², making it the most populous of the sub-counties in Nairobi City County.

Government and infrastructure

The

Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is a state corporation of Kenya that is responsible for regulating the aviation, aviation industry in Kenya and for providing air navigation, air navigation services in the Kenya flight region. The KCAA offers ...

has its head office on the property of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Embakasi.Welcome to KCAA
."

. Retrieved on 14 January 2011. "The Authority’s head offices are currently situated at KAA Complex, JKIA in Nairobi." The

Kenya Airports Authority Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) is the owner and operator of nine civilian airports and airstrips in Kenya. Kenya Airports Authority was established by an act of Parliament in 1992, by the ruling Kenya African National Union government. The KAA A ...

also has its head office at the airport.

Education

Kifaru Primary School is a basic educational facility situated in the

Njiru Ward Njiru is the surname of the following people and places: People * Patrick Njiru (born 1957), a former Kenyan rally driver * Wawira Njiru, a Kenyan entrepreneur, nutritionist, and philanthropist * Jane Wanjuki Njiru, a Kenyan politician * Silas Si ...

near the Umoja Ward. Othe
Schools
in Embakasi Area

Economy

Kenya Airways has its head office in Embakasi.

African Express Airways African Express Airways is a Somali-owned Kenyan airline with its head office at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Embakasi, Nairobi, Kenya. Services African Express Airways is a short-haul airline, which caters to business and leisure tr ...

has its head office on the grounds of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Embakasi. JetLink Express has its head office in the Freight Complex in Embakasi.

Transport

Embakasi is the location of an Inland Container Depot popular known as the dry port. Embakasi contains the bulk of the Nairobi portion of the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway. The Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway has a cargo station at Embakasi. In 2010, a passenger railway branchline was proposed from Embakasi to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to relieve overcrowding on the adjacent road. As of 2022, a low-frequency, unidirectional commuter service was available from the Embakasi SGR station.

2011 petrol fire

In September 2011 at least 75 people burned to death after a

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

fire broke out in the division. The fire started when a fuel tank at a depot belonging to the

Kenya Pipeline Company Kenya Pipeline Company (''KPC'') is a state corporation that has the responsibility of transporting, storing and delivering petroleum products to the consumers of Kenya by its pipeline system and oil depot network. Overview The Kenya Pipelin ...

, spilled fuel into an open sewer running through Embakasi. Residents tried to scoop up fuel from the burst pipe and sewer, and were burned when the petrol ignited after someone threw a

cigarette butt A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

into the sewer.

References

{{Nairobi, state=collapsed Populated places in Kenya Suburbs of Nairobi