The government will embark on a verification and validation exercise of high-impact selected national government projects and programmes countrywide on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.

The exercise, which will be undertaken by the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary (OPCS) in conjunction with the Ministry of Interior and National Administration (MINA) will come to a close on Saturday, September 14, 2024.

In a statement on Monday, September 9, 2024, the Communications Director, for the National Government Coordination Secretariat (NGCS) Andrew Teyie said the exercise will commence with two out of the eight administrative regions in the country.

“The exercise, to be conducted in the 1st and 2nd Quarter of this Financial Year will start off in Eastern and Coast Regions before being cascaded to North Eastern, Nairobi, Central, Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western regions,” Teyie stated

“The purpose of the exercise is to validate the status of the selected High Impact Projects and Programmes for the Financial Year 2023/2024, taking into consideration the information provided by the Ministries Departments and State Agencies (MDAs). The OPCS/MINA verification teams, who include the MDAs Focal Persons will document issues and identify bottlenecks for better coordination of service delivery.”

Targeted govt projects

The verification and validation exercise will start in Machakos County with the inspection of the Kenya Leather Industrial Park (Kenanie Leather Industrial Park).

The two ministries are also scheduled to scrutinise a programme aimed at expanding the acreage under cotton production from 26,000 acres to 200,000 acres and avail BT cotton seeds.

The programme entails cotton production and BT cotton seeds in Tharaka Nithi, Kitui, Meru and Mombasa.

The government will also verify and validate the establishment of county aggregation and industrial parks in all 47 counties, starting with county aggregation and industrial parks in Lunga Lunga, Kwale County.

The national government will also look at the project for the completion and operationalization of special economic zones (SEZs) starting with the Athi River SEZ in the Eastern and Dongo Kundu SEZ in the Coast.

In the housing sector, the government will check the progress of the construction of 200,000 affordable housing units annually.

In the Eastern region, officials from the two ministries are expected to visit Moke Gardens project in Athi River, Machakos County where 4,118 units are being constructed and a project in Embu where 220 units are being constructed for civil servants. The team will also scrutinise Embu NHC Affordable Housing where 400 units are under construction, Mzizima Estate in Mombasa with 1,582 units and Matuga AHP in Kwale with 172 units.

The officials will also inspect the construction of 6,000 kilometres of roads (3,500 kilometres under conventional method and 2,500 kilometres of low-volume seal roads.

The roads include Chiakariga-Marimanti-Gatunga Road (36 kilometres) in Tharaka Nithi, Nkubu – Rubiri – Kamurita – Meru (12 kilometres), Kwale & Ukunda Township roads under KURA, Mwache – Mteza – Mombasa under KeNHA, Mtwapa – Kwa Kadzengo – Kilifi under KeNHA and Bamba – Ganze – Kilifi (56 kilometres) under KeRRA.

The government is also seeking to look at the expansion of Technical Vocational Education and Training institutes (TVETs) including Chuka TTI in Tharaka Nithi, Mukiria TTI in Meru, Kaelo TTI in Meru, Kenya Coast National Polytechnic in Mombasa, Ahmed Mwindani TTI in Mombasa, Msambweni TTI in Kwale and Weru TTI in Malindi.

The exercise also targets to verify the completion of the Bachuma Livestock Export Zone (LEZ) in Taita Taveta and the construction and operationalization of Lamu LEZ.

Other targeted programmes include the development and operationalization of ports in Coast, specifically the Mombasa Port and the National Liquefied Petroleum Gas Enhancement programme in the Coast region.

The national government will also check the Kenya Coast National Polytechnic in Mombasa.

The construction and improvement of the national government administration infrastructure will be also an area of focus starting with the refurbishment of the Machakos County Commissioner’s offices, the Isiolo County Commissioner’s offices and the Kwale County Commissioner’s offices.

Also under scrutiny will be the ultra-modern Tuna Fish Hub at Liwatoni in Mombasa and the Galana-Kulalu Food Security Project in Kilifi.