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Kiambu enacts Sh23.8bn budget as Wamatangi promises to fulfil pledges
Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi.
The Kiambu County Government has enacted a budget estimate of Sh23.8 billion for the 2025–26 financial year. Governor Kimani Wamatangi's administration has emphasised road infrastructure, to which approximately Sh3.5 billion has been allocated.
According to the budget, the county has earmarked Sh1.885 billion for development expenditure, to be spent on tarmacking, gravelling and grading roads, installing solar street lighting, and constructing bridges and drainage systems. The department is targeting over 1,600 kilometres during the year.
Furthermore, the county government intends to purchase and install an asphalt concrete plant to combine aggregates such as crushed stone and sand with liquid bitumen for use in tarmacking roads, car parks, and other paved surfaces.
A further Sh1.6 billion has been allocated to the municipal administration and urban development directorate to "upgrade municipal infrastructure, including roads, drainage, sewer systems and public amenities" through the Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP), which is funded by the World Bank.
"The department (roads) will construct different roads, non-motorised roads, motorable bridges, bus parks, parking bays, and footbridges. The department also plans to maintain roads to motorable status, stormwater drains, non-motorised walkways, and bridges," reads the budget estimates.
Mr Wamatangi said that, although the county had achieved a great deal in sectors such as education — with hundreds of nursery school classrooms built — as well as in health, agriculture, and green energy, progress on the roads agenda was lagging behind.
"For the past two years, we have made significant strides in various aspects of development and community empowerment. But we haven't done well on the roads. That is one of my key agendas in this financial year, and that is why we have allocated substantial resources so that even as we progress with the other projects, we will improve on our roads," he said.
The county has developed a new framework for rehabilitating rural access roads and has stopped awarding tenders for maintaining access roads in the wards. This has reduced the cost of grading, gravelling and compacting access roads from Sh6 million to Sh400,000 for a three-kilometre stretch.
Mr Wamatangi has been using county-run equipment, including excavators, graders, roller compactors, trucks and water bowsers, which have been mobilised and deployed in each of the 12 sub-counties.
The County Executive Committee Member for Finance, Nancy Kirumba, said that the budget had been drafted based on people's needs and captured ongoing projects across all departments to ensure their completion alongside new projects aimed at improving residents' lives.
She said that approximately Sh16 billion will come from the exchequer and grants, while Sh7.9 billion has been set as this year's own-source revenue collection target to supplement the budget, which allocates Sh7.8 billion exclusively for development.
Last financial year, the county collected Sh5.45 billion in local revenue — a performance attributed to the installation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that automated county services and revenue streams.
The education sector, which has been allocated Sh2.3 billion, intends to complete the construction of the remaining 178 Early Childhood Development Education Centres (ECDEs), furnish them, and provide learning and play materials and meals for around 46,000 learners. The county has also increased the annual bursary fund from Sh500 million to Sh750 million.
Furthermore, County Executive Committee Member for Education Dr Mercy Njagi revealed that the directorate has allocated funds to recruit new ECDE teachers, promote existing ones, build staff capacity and develop relevant policies and bills.
Health continues to take the lion’s share of the budget, with an allocation of Sh8 billion. The County Minister for Health Services, Dr Elias Maina, said that this funding will be used to complete the construction of new hospitals, equip them, continue the digitisation of services and pay for drugs and doctors' salaries.
Dr Maina said that, over the past two years, the county has been constructing six Level 4 hospitals, including those in Thogoto (Kikuyu), Juja, Karuri, Lari and Bibirioni, as well as 26 new Level 3 hospitals which are almost ready to be equipped.
In the agricultural sector, which has been allocated Sh1.2 billion, the county plans to continue distributing piglets, indigenous chicks, certified maize seeds, and fertiliser. These programmes have so far benefited over 700,000 farmers. The county also plans to provide artificial insemination services using both sexed and conventional semen, as well as installing milk coolers and pasteurisers.
The County Assembly of Kiambu, which has 85 Members of the County Assembly, has been allocated Sh1.3 billion from the budget for its operations. The Finance and Economic Planning Department has received Sh1.8 billion; the Administration and Public Service Department, Sh1.4 billion; the Water Department, Sh1 billion; the Trade Department, Sh839 million; and the Sports and Youth Department, Sh421 million.
