The Belgium government will fund the Last Mile County Connectivity project to the tune of Sh2.4 billion.
The financial contract for the project was signed on Monday at State House, Nairobi, by Treasury CS Henry Rotich and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium Didier Reynders.
President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the signing ceremony. He praised the cordial and bilateral relations between the two countries.
Uhuru commended the project, saying once complete, it will enhance government services and ensure accountability of state funds, especially through the Integrated Financial Management Information System.
He said the project would greatly contribute to transparency and accountability, especially in the county governments.
The project also aims at faster delivery of services and documents, such as birth certificates, IDs.
In addition, through the government offices in the county, Kenyans are expected to be connected to the central administration government and they can be able to benefit in terms of funds through the Constituency Development Fund.
The President said there is need for Belgium to deepen bilateral relations into multilateral, considering the many sectors it supports in the country.
Belgium supports reforms in education, the modernisation of the energy and the improvement of public healthcare.
The County Connectivity Project, which is in its third phase, has been going on since 2011. The project involves connecting county governments to national government ministries, through the National Fiber Optic Infrastructure.
Phase one was completed in 2013 with three years maintenance contract, which ended in September, while phase two is still going on.
In phase one, 28 counties headquarters were connected to the National Fiber Optic Infrastructure to the ministries in Nairobi. All the 28 counties are fully functioning and connected to Government Common Core Network with all the sites monitored and supported at the Network Operating Centre at the National Treasury.
The objective of phase three is to increase the number of connected buildings in the country, connect other government buildings within wireless coverage area and add other connecting areas to National Fiber Optic Infrastructure.