Meru to spend Sh200m on ancient Roman road technology

A cobblestone street lined with 19th-century homes in Plovdiv's Old Town, Bulgaria, August 26, 2012. Meru County government intends to spend Sh200 million in paving 10 kilometres of road using the ancient Roman cobblestone technology. FILE PHOTO | JODI HILTON

What you need to know:

  • The initiative is expected to create jobs for Meru Youth Service recruits who will be engaged in production of cobblestones using locally available stones.
  • Under the agriculture department, the county will buy boats, water testing kits, fishing nets among others at Sh4 million to promote fish farming.

The Meru County government intends to spend Sh200 million in paving 10 kilometres of road using ancient Roman cobblestone technology in the 2019/2020 financial year.

The county will require more than Sh10 billion to implement programmes under the Annual Development Plan (ADP) in the 2019/2020 financial year.

Meru has been piloting the use of cobblestone paving technology in partnership with the Kenya Institute of Highways and Building Technology (KIHBT), which is training county officials.

NEW JOBS

The initiative is expected to create jobs for Meru Youth Service recruits who will be engaged in production of cobblestones using locally available stones.

The ADP indicates that the water department will get the biggest chunk with Sh2.974 billion followed by finance (Sh1.27 billion), roads (Sh1.13 billion, education (Sh814.9 million) and health (Sh660 million).

In the same year, the county will employ more than 900 workers in the 2019/2020 financial year at an estimated cost of more than Sh260 million.

It will recruit 300 ECDE teachers at Sh75 million, 10 conservation rangers (Sh10m), 70 enforcement officers (Sh50m), 352 village administrators (Sh15m), 100 public service staff (Sh80m) and 100 vocational training instructors at a cost of Sh31.2 million.

Under the agriculture department, the county will buy boats, water testing kits, fishing nets among others at Sh4 million to promote fish farming.

Another Sh6 million will go towards buying 120 goats for farmers to boost goat-milk production.

The same department will use Sh100 million to procure 400,000 avocado and macadamia seedlings.

In a bid to improve legislations, Sh5 million will be spent on amending the Meru County Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, 2016.

The production of a Kimeru dictionary which started under the previous regime will cost Sh5 million.

PROJECTS

In 2014, former governor Peter Munya formed a committee and allocated Sh3 million to come up with the dictionary but none has ever been published.

Both the county executive and the assembly plan to spend Sh50 million each in setting up a TV station and a radio station respectively.

The Meru County TV station is expected to ‘engage interns and use local content to drive awareness around societal issues.’

Under communication, Sh20 million will go towards acquiring a fully equipped media van and a media centre for press briefings.

The county assembly will also use Sh30 million on acquiring Hansard equipment, Sh45 million for Speaker’s residence and Sh25 million on an office block and a-50 seater restaurant.

Governor Kiraitu Murungi’s flagship projects including the free milk programme will take up Sh110 million, Meru Youth Service (Sh150 million), star-rated hotel at Meru National Park (Sh300 million), nature trail (Sh100 million) and gastrointestinal treatment centre (Sh300 million).

Others are Meru school of government (Sh50 million), rehabilitation centre (Sh44 million), Maua Huduma centre (Sh15 million) and Sh50 for National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) recruitment.

The county assembly sectoral committee on planning is set to hold public participation forums on the ADP starting Thursday.