Nairobi,
Tuesday, 7 May, 2024
McCreadie Andias
The government has received Ksh.46.5 billion ($350 million) in credit from the World Bank to implement the Second Kenya Urban Support Programme.
President William Ruto, while adressing the Inter-governmental Participation Agreement at State House, Nairobi vowed to ensure that the funds will be utilized in an accountable and transparent manner.
Ruto noted that sustainable financing will play a huge role in achieving his government’s urban development strategy.
“The deliberate scaling up of resources in urban development will ensure inclusive and quality infrastructure to accelerate the realisation of our Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.”The President said.
The project seeks to end extreme poverty, expand economic opportunities and sustainably improve living standards of the people.
” We shall now proceed to actualise our ambition of holistically achieving sustainable urban development by enhancing the resilience of infrastructure and services, engaging the private sector in urban planning and development and integrating refugee camps with host settlements,” he said.
President Ruto also challenged Governors to boost their revenue collections in their respective counties to support their development programs.
He told governors that their own source revenues would make work easier at the devolved units instead of depending on loans that would be repaid.
The head of state said it is high time the country should focus on funding its own projects without depending on foreign aid.
“For our part, the National Government is establishing the National Urban Development Fund to anchor the urban development agenda in a sustainable framework,” he said.
