Trans Nzoia Governor Patrick Khaemba has ordered a contractor to complete work on the Sh1.5 billion Kitale Referral Hospital in three months.
He wants the project, which has taken more than five years, completed by September. Residents should start using it by December after Sh1 billion facilities are installed, the governor said.
Deputy Governor Stanley Tarus toured the project site to assess work. He said the governor had directed that the facility be completed within three months.
“Three quarters of the work has been done and we have asked the contractor to speed up the work so that it is completed as directed by the governor,” Tarus said.
He said MCAs have approved fresh financing for the project, which stalled a year ago because of funding wrangles.
“We had a hitch when MCAs reduced the budget for the project from Sh300 million to Sh200 million but that has been sorted out,” Tarus said.
The referral hospital under construction is Khaemba’s main project since he was elected as governor now serving his second term.
Auditor General Edward Ouko has for the last three years been questioning expenditure by the county government on the project noting that residents were not getting value for money and that the project had taken too long to complete.
Tarus said most of the medical equipment and other supplies for the new hospital had already been procured and will be installed once construction is completed.
The county has also set aside more than Sh40 million for completion of the Kitale bus park.
Tarus said the county had no white elephants and that funds had been set aside for the completion of all projects initiated since he took office in 2013.
“We have no stalled projects or massive corruption as claimed by our rivals. All planned projects are on course and will be completed,” he said.
Tarus will be seeking to succeed Khaemba in the next elections and says their administration has performed well during the last seven years.
He says they had invested extensive resources in agriculture, healthcare and infrastructure to help uplift the lives of residents.
