By Reporter
The slow progress of Bungoma County Aggregation Industrial Park (CAIP) was among the issues of concern raised by the Members of the Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Committee.
The Committee, during an inspection visit to the site, disputed the 62 per cent completion rate that was given to them by the Quantity Surveyor.
MP Benard Shinali (Ikolomani), the Committee Chairperson, questioned the County Government, which had leased the contracting authority, on what they were basing the release of money against.
“This is an abuse of public resources. We need to give them value for money. When you say you are at 62 per cent and you don’t have a gate, concrete wall, drilled boreholes, we doubt what you are evaluating,” Hon. Shinali lamented.
According to the County CECM for Trade, Energy and Industrialisation, Mr Douglas Sasita, the construction of the CAIP has faced challenges of contractors lacking liquidity; however, for the past one month, she had managed to partner with Zenith Steel and some work had been done.
“In April this year, we had considered terminating the contract; however, the contractor pleaded with us and we gave her a chance. She has promised to complete and hand over this project by 31st December 2026,” he said.
MP Wilberforce Oundo (Funyula), while reacting to the revelation, asked the County Government how the situation reversed.
“If you had not paid the contractor, do you think she would have agreed to your pleas and continued with the work?” he asked.
The Industry PS, Juma Mukhwana, who was also present during the visit, concurred with the Committee’s observations, stating that the project was among the Phase One projects and ought to have been completed by now.
According to the PS, the machinery budget set aside for the facility will now have to be redirected somewhere else.
“The National Government has disbursed its share of KSh250 million fully. The county government was contributing the other KSh250 million towards the project to make it KSh500 million. We did the design and coordination across the counties, and now Bungoma County was the contracting authority. Upon completion, also, this project is to get a budget for equipping machinery. For Bungoma, now the money will have to be diverted somewhere else,” the PS said.
The National Government had committed a total of KSh8.5 billion towards the implementation of the CAIPs programme across 34 counties. The funding has been disbursed over three financial years since FY 2023/24.
In addition, the FY 2026/27 budget allocated KSh2.45 billion towards the operationalisation and equipping of 16 CAIPs, largely targeting projects that had attained higher levels of physical completion.
