Facelift
Seven informal settlements in Uasin Gishu County have been earmarked for a major infrastructure upgrade at Sh. 1.3 billion through the Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project, KISIP II.
The project is being implemented by the national government in collaboration with the county government with funding from the World Bank, the Agence Française de Development (AFD), and a grant from the European Union, EU targets to transform the livelihoods of the locals in the slum settlements.
The selected slums will benefit from 13.1 kilometres of tarmacked roads, seven high mast security lights, street lighting along the improved roads, pedestrian walkways, storm water drainage, and public parks and green spaces, according to the Uasin Gishu County chief officer (CO) housing and urban development Julius Koech.
Koech said the improvement of the informal settlements will give a new face to Eldoret which was conferred to city status in August 2024. “The KISIP II project has come at an opportune time when Eldoret has just become the fifth city, what has been pulling us back as a city is the issue of sprouting slums and I am happy the project also has a component on institutional capacity development for slum upgrading as well as preventing the sprouting of slums,” added Koech.
“We expect that when the project that is currently at 20 percent completion rate ends, we will have reduced informal settlements in the county by 50 percent, “he said. The project is expected to be complete by June 3oth 2025.
“The slums that were selected for improvement include Maili Inne which will get 3.9kms of the road improved to bitumen standards, 7 km of pedestrian walkways on both sides of the road, storm water drainage, high mast street lights, and an ablution block, Kipkaren settlement will get 2.5 kms of tarmac road, drainage, a recreational facility along Kipkaren river, and high mast and street lighting.
Uasin Gishu County Housing and Urban Development chief officer (CO) Julius Koech briefing the press on the KISIP II projects in Maili Inne.
KK, Kasarani, and Segero slums will benefit from a total of 2.1km of tarmacked roads, drainage, lighting, and walkways. “The three settlements are where there is real informality with dilapidated roads, poor drainage, and services,” said Koech during a media tour of the ongoing projects.
The other settlements include Mwanzo which will benefit from 3.9 km of road, closed storm water drainage, street, and high mast lighting, and a green space. Shauri will get 700 meters of tarmac, drainage, and lighting according to the C.O.
Koech said since the project kicked off four months ago 500 youths from the specific settlement have been employed, “The project has created job opportunities directly and indirectly for the youth and women, apart from the 500 employed youth, we have food vendors as well as the business community where the contractor source construction materials such as cement, hardware, and marram from, thus uplifting the economy of our town,” he said.
The KISIP II project has spurred our economic development and significantly reduced the rate of crime in the seven slums. With the security and street lights our people will be able to carry on with their businesses until late in the night without fear, added Koech.
The CO said they were working closely with the community through a committee to ensure their welfare is taken care of adding that so far, all persons affected by the project have been compensated. While thanking the national government, the World Bank, AFD, and the EU for supporting the KISIP II project in the county, Koech pledged that his department will ensure the project is managed to the expected level.
The objective of the KISIP II project which is key in Vision 2030 is to improve access to basic services and land tenure security of residents participating in the urban informal settlement. It also aims at strengthening institutional capacity for slum upgrading and supporting urban areas to achieve a well-housed population living in an environmentally secure environment.
The project is already rolling out interventions on infrastructure upgrading across 33 participating counties, with five counties, Kakamega, Nakuru, Kilifi, Kisumu, and Nairobi having ongoing upgrading works.
Tenure regularization aimed at enabling residents in informal settlements across the country to access land through tenure security is ongoing in 33 counties and more than 120 informal settlements. The KISIP II project has also rolled out the preparation of county-specific slum upgrading and prevention strategies to support 20 counties.
The project also focuses on the utilization of labour-intensive techniques and inclusive employment practices during implementation to create opportunities for gainful engagement for unskilled and semi-skilled settlement-based labour as anchored in the government’s agenda on affordable and social housing programmes.