Inside Governor Ottichilo's plan to build Sh482 million county offices
The current building housing the Vihiga governor's office in Mbale town. The devolved unit plans to refurbish it and give it a facelift at a cost of Sh5 million. This is part of the mega plan to give offices of the local administration a new look.
Vihiga County has outlined an elaborate plan to boost service delivery that will see it spend Sh482.5 million to establish new look county government offices by 2027.
Governor Wilber Ottichilo said the plans that are contained in the draft County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), 2023-2027 are in line with the law and will be used to guide the county's development priorities by all the ten departments in the next five years.
According to the draft document that is undergoing public validation, Sh5 million will go towards refurbishing the governor's office in Mbale and giving it a facelift beginning July this year.
Another Sh330 million will be spent on construction of two modern administration blocks complete with a car park that will cost an additional Sh4.5 million. Sh30 million will be spent on construction of a county library, according to the draft plan. Further, 25 offices will be constructed and equipped at a cost of Sh113 million.
The offices will house the five sub county administrators, 25 ward administrators and several village administrators.
Work on three of the 25 offices will is expected to start in July this year at a cost of Sh21 million. After construction of the 25 offices, another Sh35 million will be spent to install WiFi in the facilities.
Five ICT hubs will also be established, one inn each of the five sub counties, at a total cost of Sh50 million.
Public service
The projects are domiciled under the Public Service and Coordination department whose objective is to boost service delivery to the residents through a coordinated approach.
After the current public validation that started at Praise Centre in Mbale yesterday, the document will be placed before the 12-member County Executive Committee for approval before it is tabled in the county assembly approval.
Mr Ottichilo said the draft CIDP has adequately captured his 2017 campaign manifesto and called for support from the residents to deliver it for the benefit of everyone.
He said preparation of the document is in line with the Public Finance Management Act 2012 that states that no public funds shall be appropriated outside a county's planning framework.
The plan has also enumerated other priority projects that include upgrading of sub county hospitals, improving and upgrading county roads to bitumen standards, installing streetlights and erecting of high mast floodlights across the county.
Other key projects are establishment of talent centres, revamping of cultural centres, developing education infrastructure, establishment of a climate change centre among other priorities.
The Public Service department said the infrastructural and capacity building projects and programs are key to its mission of enabling a well-coordinated county public service that provides efficient and quality services to its clients.
