• “The place formerly known as Kachok has been replaced with a botanical garden called “Baby Pendo Botanical Garden,” Nyong’o said.
• He plans to construct a children theme park complete with a public swimming pool, a children football training pitch and a recreation centre in the new financial year.
Image: MAURICE ALAL
The Kachok dumpsite in Kisumu has been decommissioned and a new waste management facility established outside the city, Governor Anyang Nyong’o has said.
The new facility is located in Kasese, Muhoroni subcounty.
Nyong’o said the dumpsite was an eyesore despite Kisumu being the third largest city.
The governor spoke on Thursday during the launch of his manifesto at Citam Church, Kisumu.
He said Kisumu was littered with uncollected garbage and the Kachok dumpsite's mountain of garbage was stinking, affecting the nearby schools and institutions.
“The dumpsite was a serious health hazard to residents and has now been cleared. The place formerly known as Kachok has been replaced with a botanical garden called “Baby Pendo Botanical Garden,” Nyong’o said.
The governor said his administration plans to construct a children's theme park, complete with a public swimming pool, a children football training pitch and a recreation centre in the new financial year.
“We have cleaned up the city and removed a mound of solid waste. Kisumu has been ranked as the cleanest city in Kenya and as one of the cleanest in Africa more than thrice,” he said.
Nyong’o said through coordinating strategic management of waste at the subcounties and using public-private partnership, they are constructing a waste-to-energy plant to manage the solid waste within the county.
To strengthen solid waste management systems in Kisumu county, the county boss plans to adopt several capacity building approaches for the improvement of the regulatory environment and awareness creation.
“We are going to develop a county wide sustainable waste management strategy, establish appropriate systems of solid waste disposal and recycling activities in seven subcounties,” he said.
The county also plans to improve means of solid waste transport and collection systems, promote public-private partnerships in service delivery for improved sustainable waste management and create jobs.
Nyong’o also targets strengthening micro-enterprises and community-based groups to efficiently provide waste management services, create job opportunities, and improve the environment.
“We are going to build the capacity of the municipal council to effectively implement the strategy and develop an effective monitoring and evaluation system,” he said.
The county boss said the Kisumu government collaborated with partners to beautify the city and green 200 public schools within the county to improve on the tree cover.
Some 150,000 tree seedlings have been planted in the school greening programmes with the drainage system in the city cleaned up.
Nyong’o said they also initiated the improvement of road networks and clean up of the lakefront.
“We have completed the Dunga Road and established the Lakefront Development Corporation.
"The corporation is a special purpose vehicle for stakeholders along the lakefront; both national and county government and the private sector,” he said.
The corporation aims at spearheading resource mobilisation for projects to open up the lakefront for investments.
Nyong’o said the drainage system within the city has been tremendously improved, reducing overflow during heavy rains.
He said the reorganisation of the public service vehicles’ routes have also made the town a place to admire due to the order therein.
The governor said the non-motorised network has highly improved mobility within town.
“We have so far managed to construct 16kms of walkways, 8kms of roads, 2.1kms of cycle lanes and 8kms of service ducts. We hope to extend this special service to other towns and other parts of the county,” he said.
The city management in partnership with corporate members has also enhanced urban aesthetics.
This, Nyong’o said, has yielded the construction and beautification of roundabouts within the city and improved greening and beautification of parks and open spaces.
The result are clean, safe and healthy environments with fresh air to be enjoyed by the people needing to relax.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)