County to allocate funds for construction of 1,200 housing units

Turkana, Tuesday, April 18, 2023

K.N.A By Peter Gitonga

Turkana County will set aside funds for the construction of 1,200 housing units.

The Kenya Urban Support Programme National Project Coordination Team led by Eng Benjamin Njega said each of the six constituencies will benefit from 200 housing units. 

He expressed his appreciation to the Lands Department for allocating 20 acres of land for Turkana Central to start the project.

To fast track the mapping of the County on Housing Project, Eng. Njega said he will send his urban planners team to work jointly with that of the county to prepare plans and designs for the project.

Affordable housing is one of the key manifestos of  president William Ruto administration.

At the same time county executive committee member for Lands, Physical Planning, Housing and Urban Areas Management Peter Akono said Lodwar municipality will this week have a substantive municipality manager to ensure that it functions fully as a municipality.

Akono lauded the KUSP’s support and the progress made since the Lodwar Municipality was established in 2018.

“As County Government, we recognize the support the KUSP has immensely invested in Turkana to develop Lodwar Municipality to the current status. We will continue to support the Urban Support Programme to help the municipality deliver its mandate to Lodwar residents,” said CEC Akono.

The team had visited Turkana County on Monday to provide technical support to Lodwar Municipality.

NPCT was also following up on actions taken on the key findings of the audit conducted from June to August 2022, and afterwards, discussed possible corrective measures.

Njega, who led the team, said Lodwar Municipality must meet all the 10 minimum requirements  to benefit for KUSP II, commencing in July 2024. KUSP I comes to an end in July 31, 2023. 

In view of this, Eng. Njega said Kakuma and Garissa municipalities will be among the first 59 that will benefit of the USD.200 million for KUSP II as they are targeted for hosting refugee community. 

The team later in the day, visited and assessed the construction of parking lots project that includes laying of Cabros in various sites in town.

Courtesy K.N.A