Leadership from the North Rift Economic Bloc (NOREB), have welcomed the conferment of Eldoret Municipality into a City, an historic event, which will take place on August 8th, 2024 and will be graced by President Dr. William Ruto.
The leaders who spoke during a consultative forum with various stakeholders, including business community and investors, hosted by Uasin Gishu Governor, Dr. Jonathan Chelilim, in Eldoret town, as a way to beef-up preparations to welcome the new ‘baby’ in nearly a week to come, The Eldoret City.
The leaders led by NOREB Governors’ Chairman and Nandi Governor, Stephen Sang, praised the bestowment of the city status to the most strategic town, dubbing it ‘a regional city’ that will play a significant role in accelerating the growth of the nearby towns such as Iten in Elgeyo Marakwet, Kapsabet in Nandi and others in terms of promoting economic, cultural, tourism and other sectors growth.
Governor Sang noted that Eldoret Town, now turning into a city, is a strategic metropolitan for all, since it is the home and the heart of the region.
“The forthcoming event of 8th of August is not an end itself, the City status will be officially unveiled and starting from that point, we all need to escalate with all the stakeholders on board. We thank the first Governor of Uasin Gishu for initiating the process and the second Governor for concluding and completing that journey,” said the NOREB Chairman.
He added that the role of ensuring Eldoret City attains or lives to its new status will not be played by the government alone, it will be a role played by all stakeholders in the region and all of the counties surrounding Eldoret city.
“We as a leadership for the entire region, will work together with the stakeholders here, to ensure this dream of Eldoret City is achieved,” added Governor Sang.
He indicated that the benefit of the new city will not just benefit the region within the County government of Uasin Gishu government alone, but it is going to escalate to other NOREB counties like Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans Nzoia and the entire Rift Valley Region.
He assured the business community of numerous opportunities coming in like big businesses and hotels as part of the infrastructure to support the new city status, noting that they want to be part and parcel of that journey and they will also be approaching the National Government for a marshal plan on infrastructure.
“We need a huge bypass in this town, we need over flyers in this region, expansion of the airport, this is going to mean a lot and am sure in the next five years, we will be surprised at how this new status will have expanded and even Nandi, Kitale, Iten and other towns will grow,” he noted.
Governor Chelilim affirmed his Administration’s commitment to receive the new city status that will open-up innumerable business and employment opportunities for the people, noting that Eldoret is strategically located and serves as the gateway to western part of Kenya up to the neighbouring East Africa countries including Uganda, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi among others.
“We have met with all leaders from MCAs, MPs, Senators and Corporate leaders, as regards the August 8 event, we had various deliberations, we welcome our President as we await our town to be ‘born’ anew as the fifth city in this country,” said the Governor.
He assured business community of sufficient security and a peaceful environment, suitable for business and investment.
“We are very prepared; we have given the business people a waiver on painting their buildings anew and also doing beautification at their business premises, as they welcome the new city status,” he noted.
Senator Jackson Mandago, the country is prepared for the occasion, noting that the City is not going to be a city of Uasin Gishu County alone, but a regional city and a catalyst to development in the region in terms of attracting investment, taking advantage of the placement of the city both in terms of geographical location and even in terms of the ease of transportation in and out of County.
He urged all Kenyans, potential investors and people who want to scout for investment in the region which comprises Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Baringo, and Turkana, including the neighbouring towns like Kakamega and Bungoma, that the region has great potential for investment and to take advantage of the historic day to know what is available in terms of investment opportunities in the region.
“We want to thank the private sector, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), the Jua Kali sector, and all the stakeholders who have come together to support the County Government in making sure that this day becomes great and memorable day,” he said.
He expressed concern that the region, for a very long time has not been able to attract sufficient resources, particularly urban resources, noting that the new city status will bring in additional resources to support the infrastructure growth, particularly in areas of water, sewerage and road network.
“We are very hopeful that this is going to expand this region. We shall now see towns like Iten growing much faster and bringing out the best in the region in terms of new additional menus in the tourism sector,” added Mandago.
“For many Kenyans, they don’t really understand that there are hidden treasures in this region, Elgeyo Marakwet for example is in the Guinness book of world record as the best paragliding place in the world, we are telling Kenyans when you come to Eldoret, you can spend another 35 minutes and at least you can stand somewhere that has been acknowledged in the Guinness book of world records so that you can also write history,” Explained the Senator.
The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), Uasin Gishu Chapter Chairman, Willy Kenei, pointed out that Eldoret will be transformed and that the members of the business community will be main beneficiaries as a result of many investors coming, a lot of infrastructural development many other benefits, including hospitality industry.
“I want to urge the business community in Eldoret to take the advantage of the 10 days waiver by the County government to make the required renovation, to beautify Eldoret to fit the city status through painting with the recommended colours for they will not be charged for the renovation fee,” he said.
He further urged the business people to install CCTV cameras on their buildings and to take good care of trees planted in front of their premises on behalf of the business community in order to add on to the aesthetic aspect of the newest city.
By Ekuwam Sylvester
