Thika Municipality is set to become the sixth city in the country if the Senate approves the conferment of City status. 

This is after the city conferment process began with Senate Speaker Amason Kingi referring the resolution of the Kiambu County Assembly to the Devolution committee, chaired by Wajir Senator Mohamed Abass. 

Kingi, while referring to the resolution, directed the committee to expedite the consideration of the report from the Kiambu County Assembly. 

“I direct that the committee expedite the consideration of this matter and table the report for consideration by the Senate,” said Speaker Kingi. 

The Kiambu Ward reps last month approved the elevation of Thika Town to a city, taking into consideration the recommendation of the Assembly’s sectoral committee on Planning and Urbanisation in its report. 

Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi, who led a delegation from the County Executive and County Assembly during the conveyance of the message at the Senate, expressed optimism that senators will ratify the proposal. 

“Once the town is elevated to a city, it will have an enhanced international visibility, attracting increased funding and grants of over Ksh5 billion, which will be used on development projects, social programmes, and other initiatives,” said Wamatangi. 

According to Wamatangi, both the National and County Governments have partnered to invest more than Ksh10 billion to upgrade and invest in infrastructure, water, health, education, trade, sports, and other critical sectors to align Thika with city status requirements. 

This even as Governor Wamatangi’s administration has already kicked off rehabilitation of tarmac roads, streetlights and drainage works in the town’s Central Business District ahead of the town’s elevation to City status.

“The work which has already started, will see the re-carpeting and installation of solar streetlights and drainage works on the Thika Town entrance, Garissa Junction in Thika Town, popularly known as Gatitu Road,” said Wamatangi. 

The former Senator turned County Chief added that the infrastructural works, which are being spearheaded by the county’s Department of Roads and Transport, will rehabilitate other roads, among them Kisii Road, which is within the town, as well as Thika Town Bus Park. 

“We have several infrastructure works which are underway in all five wards in the municipality. My administration has gazetted 324 acres in the Gatuntaga area as an Economic Processing Zone, which will open up the eastern part of Thika.” 

The county boss said the town – whose location makes it the gateway to Mt Kenya, part of the Eastern and North Eastern regions, as well as other nations in the Horn of Africa – is one of the fastest-growing towns in Kenya and one with a possibility of bigger growth if its potential is fully exploited. 

Located along the Trans-Africa Highway corridor, Wamatangi said Thika serves both the Southern and Northern regions of Africa, making it a crucial trade corridor for countries south of the Sahara, and as a city, it could serve the central region of East Africa and beyond. 

The town is also well-connected with an intermodal transport network, including a superhighway to Nairobi, a railway line, and a transit highway to northern Kenya. 

Thika  is approximately 40 km from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the largest airport in East and Central Africa 

With a population of more than 279,429 people based on the 2019 census, it is projected that the population will grow to over 800,000 by 2039.