• KISIP1 was coming to an end in May next year and 14 counties have benefited.
• In the next phase, all the 47 counties will benefit.
Image: FILE
The second phase of the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project will be reviewed to include rural areas.
According to the Council of Governors and the World Bank, which is funding the project, the first phase targeted informal settlements in urban towns only.
Addressing the press after a joint meeting in a Naivasha hotel, Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui said they would reconsider the restriction that the benefiting informal settlements must be in an urban area.
Kinyanjui, who chairs urban development and planning committee, in the council said the WB will review the project design in line with the new Urban Areas and Cities Amendment Act 2019 in order to address concerns of equity and fairness.
“The county governments will also develop a grievance redress mechanism to clearly outline how residents can raise their concerns and resolve them at the county level,” he said.
He said the council was willing to advise counties on the mode of implementation of the Urban Areas and Cities Act, noting the new changes on composition of the municipal boards and the revised population threshold for municipalities.
On housing, Kinyanjui said that Nakuru was one of the beneficiaries of the programmes with Nakuru and Naivasha towns getting Sh700 million and Sh300 million respectively for infrastructure.
He admitted that KISIP1 had some challenges.
“We are happy with the WB projects as they will improve the status of informal settlements by addressing the issues of roads, water, lighting and sewerage,” he said.
Last week, Housing PS Charles Hinga said counties will receive Sh30 billion through the next phase of KISIP while an extra Sh15 billion will be used through Kenya Urban Support Programme.
He noted that KISIP1 was coming to an end in May next year and 14 counties had benefited.
He said in the next phase, all the 47 counties would benefit.
“The funds will be used to improve sewerage system, street lightings, roads and water within all the informal settlements in the counties,” he said.
Hinga termed the first phase of KISIP as effective, noting that the lives of millions of poor families living within the informal settlements had been transformed.
“In the second phase that will start in June next year, all the 47 counties will benefit from a grant of Sh30 billion and this will go towards the other informal settlements”.