The government, in partnership with the World Bank, has initiated a Sh100 billion investment programme to connect Northeastern counties with national and global markets.
The money will be used for transformative and integrated infrastructure in energy, transport and water.
The investments will lay the ground for additional operations that will enable sustainable livelihoods with targetted support to farmers and pastoralists.
The programme will also aim at expanding support to the most vulnerable households through regular cash transfers.
The 10 counties are Garissa, Isiolo, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, and West Pokot.
According to the World Bank, the counties have been historically underserved and are performing below national average on development indicators.
The average poverty rate in these counties is 68 per cent compared to the national average of 36 per cent. The North North-Eastern Development Initiative consists of six backbone projects.
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These include Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project for Underserved Counties, Water and Sanitation Development Project, Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project and Kenya Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project.
Others are National Safety Net Programme for Results Additional Financing, and North Eastern Transport Improvement Project.
“The bank is providing technical assistance for enhanced cross-county collaboration, surge capacity to counties and the development of a socioeconomic blueprint for the region through the Kenya Accountable Devolution Programme,” World Bank Africa Region vice president Makhtar Diop said.
The partnership between the World Bank Group and the Kenyan government goes way back to 1964. That is when the World Bank signed its first loan with the country.
Kenya has since then received close to $11 billion (Sh1 trillion) in interest-free credit, grants, partial-risk guarantees to the government and a wide range of investments and projects.
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