Laikipia's smart town initiative in the balance after suspension of works
A section of the Laikipia market that is yet to be upgraded on this photo taken on August 3, 2022.
The implementation of the multibillion-shilling smart town initiative project in Laikipia County now lies in the balance after all ongoing work was suspended by the new administration.
Former governor Ndiritu Muriithi in April 2018 unveiled an ambitious plan to upgrade 10 market centres to modern towns, but last week Governor Joshua Irungu suspended all ongoing works under the project.
The county government, in a letter to contractors, suspended all work to improve county roads in towns and small urban centres.
“Kindly but urgently suspend all works, supervisions, construction or/and consultancy for a period of 21 days from the date of this letter. Accordingly, inform the contractors of the said suspension of works,” said the September 6 letter signed by acting Land, Infrastructure and Urban Development Chief Officer Peter Macharia and copied to Governor Irungu.
The programme that the former administration had said was meant to create fresh opportunities for investment was set to be completed three years after inception.
Mr Muriithi had inked contracts worth millions of shillings with contractors to upgrade infrastructure in Nyahururu, Nanyuki, Wiyumiririe, Doldol, Ol Jabet, Matanya, Kalalu, Mouwarak and Kinamba.
In Nanyuki, the main bus terminus was being carpeted with cabro blocks, more parking spaces were to be created for matatu operators and bus sheds built for commuters for Sh115 million.
Under the smart town initiative, the upgrading and beautification of Karuga shopping centre for Sh96 million was launched four months ago and work was expected to be completed in eight months.
The shopping centre, which also hosts Laikipia University’s main campus, was set to benefit from 1.2km of road, which were to be updated to bitumen standard, construction of 4.4km of footpaths, and installation of street lighting and drainage systems.
Doldol, in Laikipia North, has also been undergoing a Sh160 million beautification project that was being implemented by the National Youth Service (NYS).
In return, the projects were expected to generate cash flow from user fees, levies and taxes.
Earlier this year, the national Cabinet approved Laikipia’s application to borrow Sh1.16 billion through issuing a domestic infrastructure bond at the stock market.
This made the county the first since the advent of devolution to float such a bond to raise money in the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The approval was preceded by that of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC), National Assembly and the county assembly.
The county government then lined up 16 projects for financing.
But Governor Irungu has lamented that his administration might have to channel all development allocations to servicing the debts it inherited as pending bills.
“My administration has inherited pending bills exceeding Sh4 billion and this means that for this financial year, all our allocations for development will be channeled towards paying the debts,” he said.
But he said he was in talks with development partners to mobilise resources.
