NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 28 – The City Council of Nairobi (CCN) is planning to float a Sh100 billion Infrastructure Bond to enable it improve roads other social amenities in the capital.
Town Clerk Philip Kisia said on Tuesday that Sh67 billion will be allocated to road infrastructure while health and education projects would be financed with Sh10 billion each.
Social amenities and Information and Communications Technology will each be allocated Sh4 billion while Sh5 billion will be set aside for fire fighting.
“2030 is actually just 20 years from today. If Nairobi accounts for 60 percent of GDP, should we not re-think how the County government of Nairobi should be managed?” he posed.
The Town Clerk further pointed out that the initiative will go a long way in improving City Hall’s revenue generating capacity.
“The difference between Africa and Asia is that the vision in Asia is normally followed by implementation,” he said. “On the other hand we document a vision but never follow it up with implementation so it always remains a pipe dream,” he said.
City Hall on Tuesday organised a brain storming session with investors as part of its formulation of the bond.
Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa stressed that the plan would enable the private sector to participate fully in the running of the Council. He said it would enable them assist in crucial decision making processes which will improve development in the city.
“This new development comes at a time when we have also ushered in a new dispensation in the way we are going to govern this country via the new Constitution,” he said. “As we nurture and anchor the new Constitution into our way of life, we also need to simultaneously introduce innovative resource organisation channels that will sustain devolution systems.”
He called for support from the various government agencies saying that it would help in the attainment of the country’s Vision 2030.
“The cost to this huge investment is the rapid degeneration of infrastructure. The level of infrastructure in place has not been able to match the investment level and population growth in the City,” Mr Majiwa said.
“Therefore, issuance of the bonds will enable the private sector to participate in service delivery and at the same time reap dividends from their investments.”
Nairobi Metropolitan Development Assistant Minister Elizabeth Ongoro gave assurance of her ministry’s support to the plans.
“These are issues that are at the core of our ministry’s concerns. We are very exited that at long last we have an institution and a CEO who can run with the vision and not sit and wait for somebody else to implement,” she said and encouraged other institutions to follow in the city council’s footsteps.
“We must restructure ourselves as ministries and as the City Council to know how we are going to work with the county assembly verses the Town Clerk, Governor and the Mayor,” she said..
Deputy Prime Minister Musalis Mudavadi described City Hall’s plan as ambitious and stressed that who subscribe to the bond will need security on their investments.
The Minister for local government emphasised the need for the City Council to clean up its financial records and ensure they pay up pending debts.
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