Under pressure Kidero may not fulfill election pledges – report
A new strategy paper has painted a grim picture on Governor Evans Kidero’s ability to achieve his election pledges.
According to the paper, City Hall spent only a fifth of its revenues on development in the first six months of the year as a ballooning wage bill and revenue shortfalls took a toll on projects.
Only Sh2.2 billion was spent on projects in the six months to December against a target of Sh5.5 billion.
Governor Kidero has planned for hundreds of projects including the rehabilitation of over 30 roads, but most of them are yet to take off.
“Overall absorption of development budget stood at 15 per cent by mid 2015/16 fiscal year,” the County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP) said.
“Six sectors (more than half of all county sectors) absorbed less than 10 per cent of their allocation in this vote. This slow uptake is due to poor project planning, identification and formulation.”
Dr Kidero has been under pressure to improve services in the city including garbage collection, estate roads and health centres.
In the six months, the county managed to collect Sh4.9 billion from parking, rates, and permits among other local sources and received Sh6.5 billion from the national Treasury.
Fifty eight per cent of this money was used to pay employees. Most of the main revenue streams, including parking, billboards, construction permits and single business permits, were reported to have underperformed.
The county is projecting to have a Sh34 billion budget in the fiscal year beginning July and further relying on public private partnerships to implement some capital-intensive projects like the construction of flats on its 2,000 acres of land.
SOURCE: Business Daily