• Plant will use human waste and recycle it with coconut husks and leaves, process it and sell it, reducing overdependence on wood.
• Mung'aro said all health facilities have been stocked with adequate drugs, modern ambulances have been bought.
Image: FILE:
Kilifi county plans to build a Sh800 million sewage recycling plant in Malindi town to produce briquettes to solve the energy crisis in the region.
Governor Gideon Mung’aro said he would soon launch the plant in the Sabaki area of Malindi subcounty with funding from the World Bank.
The plant will use human waste from toilets in Malindi and Watamu towns to produce coal to be sold to residents. It reduces over-dependence on charcoal from wood that causes environmental degradation.
Mung’aro was speaking at the Jesus Cares Centre International church in Malindi town where Senior Pastor, Bishop Thomas Kakala, delivered a sermon on the need to remain steadfast in times of difficulty.
The governor said the briquettes would be made from a mixture of sludge, coconut husks and leaves. He said the project was part of his administration’s agenda to clean Malindi town and environs to revive the ailing tourism sector.
“Malindi needs to be clean. We already have development partners and in the next one or two weeks I will be launching a mega sanitation project in Sabaki," he said.
"We shall produce coal briquettes so people can stop cutting trees,” he said.
Mung’aro said his administration and development partners were constructing properly lined toilets in both Malindi and Watamu towns for, a project that would cost about Sh120 million.
The Governor was accompanied by several Kilifi MCAs and other senior county leaders.
He said the modern toilets will cost Sh10 million and will have a modern bathroom with fully furnished modern bathing facilities.
“Once these toilets are ready, they will be run by both youth and women's groups. This creating job opportunities,” he said.
He said he was also working towards improving the Malindi town’s drainage system, which he said was a major stumbling block to the tourist resort town’s development, as well as constant water shortages.
Mung’aro enumerated some of his achievements since taking office, which included the adequate stocking of medical drugs in all the health facilities.
“Within the first 100 days in office, I commissioned the distribution of medicines in all our health facilities and now the problem of lack of drugs is a thing of the past. The problem now is where to store the drugs and we have been forced to keep them in the wards,” he said.
The governor said that he recently signed a supplementary budget that included the purchase of state-of-the art ambulances to replace the aging ones.
“Some of the ambulances we have been using are not fitted with lifesaving equipment while rushing a patient for referrals. Now we want to have some of the best ambulances that will be at par in saving lives, he said.
He said he had identified a machine in Germany that could save diabetic patients from having their limbs amputated. He will soon travel to Dubai for a health conference to scout for more modern equipment.
He said he would also support the national government to develop the Galana-Kulalu Food Security Project to improve food security in the county and beyond.
(Edited by V. Graham)