Nairobi: 24th August 2024
Nairobi Governor H.E Sakaja A. Johnson in the Company of his deputy H.E Njoroge Muchiri, yesterday presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of Nairobi County’s informal settlement schemes earmarked for improvement under the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project (KISIP II).
The beneficiary informal settlement schemes namely, Embakasi Village, Kayole Soweto,Kahawa Soweto and Kambi Moto which forms phase one of KISIP II will receive a major infrastructural upgrade that will include roads, drainage, and lighting infrastructure.
Later H.E Governor Sakaja addressed a gathering of members of community drawn from the four settlement schemes at Kahawa primary school in Kahawa ward,Roysambu Subcounty.
In his remarks, the county boss issued a stern warning to all land grabbers sitting on County public land illegally, giving them an ultimatum to surrender before the county caught up with them.
Said Governor Sakaja “during the campaign period I promised to offer dignified living to our people and our dream is not only to upgrade the slums but to fully eradicate them altogether.”
Governor Sakaja further thanked the President H.E Dr. William Ruto, for making it possible for Nairobi County to access the KISIP funding.
The Deputy Governor while welcoming the Governor stressed that the City County Government was determined to fulfill the promises made to Nairobians and that no effort would be spared to make the promises a reality. He further called on the teams involved with implementation to ensure quality of standards was adhered to, in order to deliver the intended benefits.
Ag. County Secretary and County Head of Public Service Mr. Godfrey Akumali called for synergy among all the players involved in the project for speedy implementation of the project.
The County Executive Committee Member for Built Environment Mr. Patrick Mbogo, while addressing the gathering said that his sector being the focal point would employ all the technical and professional capacity in the sector to ensure that the projects were completed within the stipulated timelines.
On her part the County Chief Officer for Housing and Urban Renewal Ms. Lydia Mathia assured all the project affected persons (PAPS) that all their grievances would be resolved through the laid down mechanisms in conjunction with the Grievance Redress Committee (GRC).Ms. Mathia thanked all the teams involved in the works from the National Project Coordination team, consultant, contractor, the County Project Coordination team and the communities drawn from the beneficiary settlement schemes.
Ms. Jecinta Charles, the County KISIP II Project Coordinator in her remarks acknowledged the support of all the stakeholders involved in the planning and execution. She attributed the strides realized to date to the support by the County Project implementation team and the County leadership led by H.E Governor Sakaja, the National Government team, Settlement Executive Committee and the Grievance Redress Committee members.
Nairobi City County is among the 23 Counties benefiting from the IDA & AFD funded project under the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project II intervention.
A total of eighty-one (81 No.) settlements national wide have been earmarked for kisip2 intervention and implementation will be in two phases.
The project is divided into four components namely, Component 1: Integrated settlement upgrading with two subcomponents
1.1 Tenure Regularization
1.2 Infrastructure Upgrading
Component 2 : Socio economic inclusion planning
Component 3: Institutional capacity development for slum upgrading and
Component 4: Program management and Coordination.
To crown the moment H.E Governor Sakaja issued a cheque worth Ksh.7 million to compensate the project affected persons (PAPS) around the four settlement schemes.
Present at the event was Kahawa Ward MCA Hon. Eutycus Mukiri, County Chief Officers: – Office of the Governor Ms. Priscilla Mahinda; Public Participation Citizen Engagement and Customer Service, Ms. Zipporah Mwangi, Director Building Services Mr. Maurice Njonyo; Settlement Executive Committee members and Grievance Redress Committee members from the four settlement schemes among a host of other attendees.
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