State needs Sh11 billion for stalled projects

By Robert Nyasato

Kisii, Kenya: Some Sh11 billion is needed to complete stalled public works projects across the country.

Officials have proposed the funds be provided in the supplementary budget to revive the ventures that have, so far, gobbled up more than Sh20 billion.

Government Chief Quantity Surveyor Moses Nyakiongora said if supplementary estimates to the tune of Sh11 billion are not provided, the development would go to waste.

Mr Nyakiongora disclosed that all ongoing national government projects undertaken by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development have stalled countrywide due to lack of funds.

He said projects that were on course before the county governments were constituted after the last March 4 General Election, have stagnated after funds meant to complete them were transferred to the counties.

“Money for the projects was devolved to the 47 county governments without factoring in ongoing projects that were being implemented by the national government,” Nyakiongora told The Standard in an interview.

The projects that have stalled include footbridges, government buildings, civil works and other public works under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

The development vote for the ministry is billed at Sh200 billion annually for the national projects excluding transport, roads and those under state corporations like universities.

As a matter of urgency, Nyakiongora said the ministry needed Sh11 billion to complete the undertakings through a supplementary budget if the initiatives were to be finalised within the next one and a half years.

Project stagnation

Nyakiongora lamented that stagnation of the projects meant that taxpayers would not get value for their money, as service delivery would not be realised.

Some of the projects were half way through while others had just started, and if the matter is not urgently resolved, most of them will be demolished.

He said the ministry was ready for devolution but there was a lapse when the succession was done hurriedly.

Nyakiongora regretted it will take between one and two years to resolve the impasse so that counties could stand on their own given they lacked the necessary requirements like skilled labour.