City Hall allocates Sh200 million for town bridges

A man trying to cross foot bridge at Highrise estate Mbagathi way

Nairobi City County government plans to spend a whopping Sh200 million to improve bridges in the capital city.

Assembly Budget and Appropriation Committee chairman Robert Mbatia said the approval was granted by the County Assembly last year. The county’s 2018/19 budget was revised to Sh33 billion. Of this, Sh10.78 billion has been allocated to development, while Sh22.5 is for recurrent expenditure.

“Through the approval granted by this County Assembly, the County Government has been granted authority to spend Ksh 200million for improvement of the bridges in the city,” Mbatia stated. In June 2015, during the reign of Governor Evans Kidero, City Hall allocated Sh438.8 million for the construction of bridges, but only six were built.

In the 2017/18 budget, the same regime earmarked some Sh 321.9 million for construction of 31 footbridges and motorable bridges across the city’s 85 wards. Then Finance department stated the move was to improve interconnectivity in certain areas as well save slum dwellers from plunging and drowning into city rivers.