Seven informal settlements in Uasin Gishu County are set to benefit from a major infrastructure upgrade at a tune of Ksh 1.3 billion.
The project, Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP II), is being implemented by the national government in collaboration with the county government.
The World Bank is funding it together with the Agence Française de Development (AFD), and a grant from the European Union (EU).
It targets to transform the livelihoods of the locals in the slum settlements.
The selected slums will benefit from 13.1 kilometers of tarmacked roads, seven high mast security lights, street lighting along the improved roads, pedestrian walkways, stormwater drainage, and public parks and green spaces.
Uasin Gishu County chief officer (CO) for housing and urban development Julius 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,” Koech said.
“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 added.
The project is expected to be complete by June 2025.
Eldoret informal settlements benefiting from KISIP II
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, stormwater drainage, high mast street lights, and an ablution block while Kipkaren settlement will get 2.5 kms of tarmac road, drainage, a recreational facility along Kipkaren river, and high mast and street lighting.
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.
Other settlements include Mwanzo which will benefit from 3.9 km of road, closed stormwater 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.
KISIP project in Eldoret: How many are employed?
Koech said since the project kicked off four months ago, over 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,” the Chief Officer said.
In addition, the KISIP II project has spurred the county’s 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,” noted Koech.
