MCAs start City Hall probe on Sh7bn delayed projects
The City Hall offices in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Delayed roads, transport and public works projects totalled Sh4.67 billion.
- Projects worth Sh1.8 billion were stalled, abandoned, suspended or terminated altogether.
City Hall is on the spot over stalled projects worth Sh6.9 billion, whose construction has also been dogged by claims of poor workmanship.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has also fingered Governor Ann Kananu’s administration for irregularities in procurement and variation of contracts.
An audit report for the financial year ended June 30, 2020 and tabled before the county assembly last week revealed that several roads, public works and ward development projects with a combined contract sum of Sh6.9 billion and spread over several years had delayed, stalled or were terminated.
Delayed roads, transport and public works projects totalled Sh4.67 billion while delayed ward development projects, which include roads and drainage works, amounted to Sh418.6 million. Also, projects worth Sh1.8 billion were stalled, abandoned, suspended or terminated altogether.
“No plausible explanations were provided... for the unsatisfactory implementation of the projects,” Ms Gathungu said.
County projects
Yesterday, the assembly Public Accounts Committee began probing road contractors and procurement officers over failure to deliver on county projects despite payments being made.
The committee that is chaired by Mabatini MCA Wilfred Odalo is investigating claims of interference in procurement, double issuance of tenders and late completion of projects.
Execution of development projects, especially those at ward level, has been an area of conflict between City Hall and MCAs.
The ward representatives have often complained that the executive has been taking them in circles since 2014 over execution of ward-based projects that have stalled due to late payments.
“This is a song we’ve been singing for the last five years. MCAs want to see ward-based projects implemented and contractors paid,” Minority Leader Michael Ogada said.
Service delivery
Following creation of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) in 2020, MCAs moved ward projects from the Office of the Governor to NMS under the Directorate of Public Works.
They also created a General Purpose Account for the Sh1.5 billion allocated to the city’s 85 wards.
During financial year 2019/20, City Hall received Sh36.98 billion for recurrent and development spending. It only spent Sh24.38 billion, resulting in an under-spend of Sh12.59 billion or 34 per cent of the total budget.
“The significant under-absorption of the budget implied that execution of planned programmes and activities and service delivery to the residents of Nairobi in the year under review may have been constrained,” the report reads in part.
