The State Department of Social Protection in conjunction with the World Bank has started the refurbishment of two halls at Mbooni Community Capacity Support Centre at a cost of over Sh11.03 million, Makueni County Coordination Social Development Officer (CCSDO) Daniel Mulonzi has said.
Mr Mulonzi revealed that the Contractor Single Line has been awarded the contract and was handed over the site on Friday last week in Mbooni Constituency where the works are being undertaken to renovate hall A and B respectively.
He said the contractor is expected to take 24 weeks to complete the works by May 2021 under the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project (KSEIP).
The CCSDO further revealed that the contractor will remove the roof, put a new floor of tiles, security reinforcement of windows and doors, repaint the halls, repair of pavements and put a climbing ramp (to be used by physically challenged persons).
Other works the contractor will undertake include putting up a new fence with a chain link, portioning and put gutters besides purchasing tanks to harvest rain water to be used at the community centre.
“The centre will be used to support training of staff, mentorship, coaching and business incubation of the beneficiaries who will be identified under the project,” said Mulonzi in a County Development Implementation Coordination Committee (CDICC) meeting chaired by the Makueni County Commissioner Maalim Mohammed in his boardroom in Wote town Tuesday.
In another development, Mulonzi disclosed that 1,500 beneficiaries from poor and vulnerable households from Mbooni and Kibwezi East constituencies will each be granted a seed capital of Sh30, 000 to invest in an income generating project for sustainability.
He added that the beneficiaries will beside the Sh30, 000 receive a monthly stipend of Sh 2,000 for two years but will be exited from the cash transfers programme.
“Each constituency will have 750 beneficiaries, even those persons already benefiting from a cash transfer and are still vulnerable will be considered. After exiting the cash transfer programme, they will be trained and mentored to ensure that they can be able to start an income generating project,” he said.
On his part, the County Commissioner Maalim Mohammed observed that no national project will be initiated without the involvement of the CDICC while adding that all projects will be closely monitored to ensure the monies are utilized on projects mean for.
“We will keenly monitor all projects. Any payment to the contractor will have to be accompanied with minutes from the CDICC,” said Mohammed.
By Patrick Nyakundi
