Bungoma to get Sh1bn grant as town boundaries redrawn

 The County Government of Bungoma will receive additional funds for development following creation of two more municipalities and expansion of existing town boundaries.

A committee appointed by Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has approved creation of Webuye and Chwele municipalities and expanding the boundaries of Bungoma and Kimilili municipalities.

Satellite towns

Creation of new administrative units will see the county receive Sh1 billion from the World Bank, up from the initial Sh300 million, to improve infrastructure in the four municipalities and satellite towns.

“Now that we have four municipalities, our county will be second to Kiambu, which has six municipalities and receives more than Sh1.5 billion in urban infrastructure funding from the World Bank,” Governor Wycliffe Wangamati said.

In 201, he wrote to the CS requesting delineation of boundaries for the areas. The nine-member team submitted its report last month.

Creation of new municipalities comes hot on the heels of a Sh1 billion grant to upgrade infrastructure in Bungoma and decongest the central business district.

The grant was disbursed under the Sustainable Urban Economic Development (Sued) programme. Managed by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID), Sued is a £60 million five-year programme that will support up to 12 fastest-growing municipalities in Kenya to plan their urbanisation better, improve links with larger markets that were previously inaccessible, and prepare for climate-resilient and sustainable growth.

Seed capital

Bungoma will receive expert advice in urban planning, training on urban management, investment promotions as well as cashing the Sh1 billion seed capital to fund infrastructure development and value-chain projects.

Governor Wangamati said: “With the funding, we will build a state-of-the-art market-cum-bus-park in Bungoma.”