Iten municipality has been picked among 12 other municipalities in Kenya to be part of the Sustainable Urban Economic Development (SUED) programme.
The programme which seeks to transform the municipalities to world-class urban metropolis is a £70 million five-year programme supported by the British Government through the Foreign Common Wealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The programme supports 12 fast growing municipalities to develop sustainable urban economic plans and attract investments for critical infrastructure and value chain projects.
Speaking at the Elgeyo Marakwet Governor’s Office, Levi Roimen team leader from Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) said that the team had met various stakeholders and made the tour to the municipality to narrow down the most viable investment proposed by the Iten Municipality Urban Economic Plan.
The projects identified include infrastructural development of a modern market and a bus park, a community sports centre/academy, potato processing facility, feed mill, solid waste management, a modern abattoir as well as a fruits and nuts processing facility.
“Our job is to look at the most viable of these projects and link them to potential investors who are ready to make them sustainable in the long run to achieve market driven growth,” said Roimen.
Roimen stressed the need to organize stakeholders in these sub sectors into groups noting that farmers in the potato value chain could easily benefit if they belonged to cooperatives.
Governor Alex Tolgos appreciated the rigorous process that went into the development of the Iten Urban Economic Plan (UEP) as well as the project selection saying that it mirrored his aspirations of Iten becoming a world class metropolis.
“We want to give an assurance that we shall support the development of the projects identified and also work with all potential investors to make Iten a world class municipality so that it will provide other multiplier effects for the economy,” said the governor.
By Rennish Okong’o
