The Nandi government will not start any new development projects but will instead focus on completion of stalled ones.
Finance exectuive Hillary Serem wants all of Governor Stephen Sang's flagship projects commissioned within the coming financial year.
“Our focus now will be to operationalise the flagship projects, among them the dairy processing plant, coffee milling plant, mother and baby hospital, Eliud Kipchoge complex and the textile mill,” Serem said.
In the 2024-2025 financial year, Nandi county expects to receive Sh8.6 billion from the National Treasury,and is set to operationalise the Equitable Development Act 2023.
The law that creates the Ward Fund stipulates that all development resources should be decided at the 30 electoral wards and puts MCAs at the centre of development.
The Act was assented by Governor Sang in the second quarter of 2023. in Use of the development budget will be decided by ward development committees.
Each ward is set to receive between Sh38 and Sh41 million with a focus on projects captured in the County Integrated Development Plan and approved by the Controller of Budget.
Serem revealed that all the wards in Nandi had completed the election of the seven-person development committees in which ward administrators are the secretaries.
Ward representatives are the patrons of the committees and the implementation of development programmes will now shift from the governor’s office to the committees and MCAs.
Already the county has carried out public participation on priority projects to be implemented in the next financial year.
“Every ward has respective priority projects ready for implementation by the committees. We are preparing to table our 2024-25 budget statement at the assembly and move on,” Serem said.
Nandi was voted the Controller of Budget in the latest report as the fifth best county out of the 47 in absorbing development funds.
The Finance executive said the government was almost clearing debt arrears both historical and current.
“What we still have as pending are those taken to court by contractors and suppliers. However, others have been cleared and even the current ones are being cleared, hence you don’t see people in our corridors”. Serem said.
