Nyeri County increase revenues despite low absorption of funds

Renovation of the Nyeri County Referral Hospital and recarpeting of roads are some of the major projects undertaken by the county government in the first six months of the current financial year, a report has said.

The half-year budget implementation report for 2018-19 said that expenditure on development amounted to Sh335 million while Sh2.1 billion was spent on recurrent expenditure. 

Nyeri’s approved supplementary budget for 2018-2019 amounts to Sh8.4 billion, comprising Sh5.5 billion for recurrent and Sh2.9 billion for development.

However, the county has only absorbed 11 per cent of the development budget out of the Sh2.9 billion allocated for development.

“The slow absorption of funds can be attributed to the delay in procurement processes and system failure,” the report stated.

The Health Services Department spent Sh1.2 billion on recurrent expenditure and Sh3.5 million on development. This represents 45.70 per cent absorption of the total budget earmarked for the financial year.

Laboratory equipment

Some of the projects under the department that were implemented include purchase of laboratory equipment for Mt Kenya and Karatina Level 4 hospitals at a cost of Sh1.6 million and Sh1.8 billion for the refurbishment of the referral facility.

In the Agriculture Department, Sh15 million was spent on the purchase of lime for farmers while Sh36 million was spent on the renovation of nursery schools and polytechnics.

The county paid out Sh164 million in pending bills and collected Sh331 million in local revenue in the first six months of the financial year.

The report stated that Nyeri's local revenue of Sh331 million represents an increase of Sh56 million, which is 20 per cent more compared to the 2017-18 financial year collection of Sh274 million over the same period.