The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives has raised concerns over the slow progress of a KSh500 million project in Nandi.
According to the Members of Parliament (MPs), the Nandi County Aggregation and Industrial Park projects in Chemase are yet to be completed despite funding from the national government.
During a field inspection by the Committee’s Sub-Committee, led by Vice Chairperson Marianne Keitany, on May 4, the committee noted that Nandi County, among the 17 prior counties in the government projects, had received KSh 250 million in funding.
The projects to build County Aggregation Industrial Parks (CAIPs) were initiated by the national government in 2023 to promote local businesses and farming by adding value.
MPs have since raised concerns about the slow progress, noting that other counties were at 80% to 90% completion on similar projects, unlike the projects in Chemase.
“In 2023, the National Government started a joint program with all the 47 Counties to build these County Aggregation Industrial Parks (CAIPs) to promote local businesses and farming through value addition. Nandi County is one of the seventeen pioneer Counties that have already received KSh 250 million from the National Government. We are here to access the project, but we are shocked to see no progress when other Counties are 80% to 90% of progress on similar projects,” Keitany stated.
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Nandi Project Shortcomings
The Nandi County Government was found to have budgeted KSh 200 million for the project.
However, the committee pointed out that there were no clear reasons as to why the budgeted funds had not been allocated to the project.
In response to the lack of project funding allocation, the Nandi County Chief Executive Officer (CEC) for Trade, Isiah Keter, and the project contractor present at the meeting argued that the delays in the projects were due to weather-related challenges.
Additionally, Keter emphasized that funding constraints also contributed to the delay, citing that the budget had been revised to KSh 20 million and later to KSh 30 million.
According to Isiah Keter, the Nandi Industrial Park project is at 30 % progress. He, however, could not address the committee’s concern about the KSh 500 million and an additional KSh 50 million funding.
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MPs Concern over Project Progress
MPs in the committee who offered oversight to the project that began in August 2023 argued that the project was expected to have been completed in 2025.
In addition to missing the deadline, the MPs questioned why the budgeted funds had not been allocated to the project accounts.
Vice Chairperson of the committee, Marianne Keitany, questioned the missing KSh 200 million that was to be used for the project’s operationalization, terming it a potential sabotage of government funds and projects.
The area MCA also called upon the committee to investigate the Contractor and the County Government of Nandi, which confirmed that it had received KSh 159 million in funds allocated towards the project.
