NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 25 – The Nairobi City Council has unveiled a Sh9.9 billion annual budget with infrastructure development getting the lion’s share of allocations.
The Council’s Chief Financial Officer Alex Otieno said the rehabilitation and development of roads in the city had been allocated Sh1 billion.
While unveiling the budget at City Hall on Thursday, Mr Otieno said that this will supplement the government’s efforts in infrastructure development.
He allocated Sh114.2 million for the construction of schools in Nairobi and a further Sh55.4 million in health centre rehabilitation.
“With the introduction of free primary education, the council stopped collecting levies from all council schools in the city,” Mr Otieno said. “This affected the council revenue rates. However, education remains a key pillar of our economic growth,” he added.
Speaking at the same time, Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa said they would double their efforts of revenue collection.
“We must start collection of our revenues immediately from the residents of the city and the Central government must also pay us,” he said adding that they hoped to cover their Sh1.3 billion deficit through better debt collection.
The NCC Chief Financial Officer further stressed the importance that the council master plan played in the city’s development.
He pointed out that it was with this reason that the council allocated Sh30 million for the development of the master plan for the city.
He further stressed the need for the council to place more emphasis in human resource development, saying that would improve the capacity of the council to handle its tasks and fulfill its duties in service delivery.
A further Sh65 million was allocated for the purchase of garbage collection trucks which Mr Otieno said would assist in the conservation of the environment in the city.
He further outlined the council’s plans to move the Dandora dumpsite to a more suitable location.
Sh72.1 million has been earmarked for the construction of social halls and sports stadium.
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