• There are about 8 pending NMS projects which have not been completed.
• Findings by the Auditor General last in 2023 revealed that taxpayers may have lost Sh2.6 billion in advance payments to contractors for works which have since stalled.
Image: FILE
Pending bills from the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services will be moved to the Office of the President.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said that the agreement was arrived at late last year.
"What we agreed during the summit of the council of governors and the President was that all those pending NMS projects are domiciled under the executive order of the presidency, where NMS was domiciled," he told the Star.
There are about 8 pending NMS projects which have not been completed.
Sakaja noted that the Office of the President will be the one to pay for and complete the projects.
NMS was retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s flagship project to upgrade the capital city after years of neglect by previous regimes.
Initiatives initiated by Uhuru under NMS, including health centres, water, sewer lines, and street lighting, have consumed billions.
However, findings by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu last in 2023 revealed that taxpayers may have lost Sh2.6 billion in advance payments to contractors for works which have since stalled.
The report, for instance, shows Sh1.6 billion had already been paid out by NMS for projects that are yet to be delivered across the city.
These are the expansion of sewer lines and street lighting in Dandora, Kangemi, Kawangware, Dagoretti Corner, Waithaka, Riruta, Kibera, Korogocho, Mathare, Zimmerman, Thome, Githurai 45, Mwihoko, Kasarani and Mwiki.
NMS, the report shows, also paid out Sh869 million to a contractor for the construction of four hospitals in Nairobi's informal settlements.
NMS paid the contractor the full cost for the construction of 19 health facilities- 10 level 2, nine level 3, and three health facilities in Nairobi-works which were to be done in 90 days.
Amref Health Africa appointed the contractor, after obtaining a license as a procurement agent for the Ministry of Health, to equip the facilities at Sh900 million.
In the arrangement, NMS signed an agreement with the Health Ministry to construct the 19 facilities.
However, at the time of the audit, works at four health facilities in Sinai, Pumwani, Majengo, Lucky Summer and Gumba were at 85 per cent, 15 per cent, 10 per cent and five per cent respectively.
Gathungu cast her doubt on the works being completed as there was no document provided on a contract extension or reasons for the slow works despite the full payment of the contract sum.
“In the circumstances, it was not possible to confirm whether the value for money for the expenditure of Sh869,400,000 incurred in the construction of the health facilities was realised,” the auditor said.
The expansion was to cover Dandora, Kangemi, Kawangware, Dagoretti Corner, Waithaka, Riruta, Kibera, Korogocho, Mathare, Zimmerman, Thome, Githurai 45 Mwihoko, Kasarani and Mwiki.
However, the works – combined, were 30 per cent complete as of May 2022, with the auditor reporting there was no certainty they’d be completed.
“The contractor was behind schedule and no explanation or evidence of extension of the contract was provided,” Gathungu said.
“In the circumstances, the delayed completion of the project casts doubt on the realisation of value for money incurred in the project.”
NMS also initiated the upgrade and maintenance of Jevanjee Park at Sh15 million but the work has since stalled.
The works were to be done in-house by the service for four months from February 2020.
An audit inspection conducted in November 2022, Gathungu said, revealed that the project was incomplete despite NMS procuring materials.
The materials, the audit pointed out, were abandoned on the site and were exposed to theft.
“The project was behind schedule and value for money for the expenditure incurred on the project may not be realised,” the auditor said.