West Pokot County residents have lauded the physical planning and land use strategies being proposed to facilitate urbanization of Kapenguria Municipality.
In a public forum held at Makutano Centre, the Kapenguria municipality board together with the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Development Ms. Esther Chelimo unveiled the future plans for the urbanization and proper use of land within the municipality noting that poor planning of land causes challenges to accessing services such as sewer lines, water supply and power supply among others.
“Poor planning of land causes challenges of accessibility and installation of essential services necessary for public health and sanitation,” said Chelimo.
She underscored the value of road reserves and riparian lands that she observed have been encroached by many due to poor planning and lack of awareness.
Chelimo further disclosed that many people at Makutano centre lacked land title deeds, denying them a chance to access loans from financial institutions to develop their plots.
“Many people at Makutano only have allotment letters hence making it difficult for them to seek loans from financial institutions to enable them venture into real estate business. There are very few storey buildings within this area and one of the reasons may be lack of finances,” she regretted.
She mentioned that there is a body called Kenya Informal Settlement Programme (KISP) that could enable those with allotment letters to acquire lease titles that could be used to access loans and build modern houses in urban centers.
Kapenguria Assistant County Commissioner (ACC) Ruth Wachera advised the planning body to consider having bus stops and foot paths along the roads within municipality.
Ms. Wachera suggested the establishment of boda boda picking points in safe places to minimize accident risks.
“When planning, walking lanes and bus stops should be considered. This will improve the safety of both riders and their customers,” advised ACC.
She added, “Boda boda waiting points and shades should be in a safe place. Currently, some are situated in danger zones,” she reiterated.
She said that physical planning would ease operations in town and in the interior areas supporting the county government for the noble move.
Area Member of County Assembly (MCA) Richard Mastaluk said that land use plan makes it easy to supply power and water without hindrance together with enabling residents minimize mushrooming buildings hence maximize land for agricultural purposes.
“Planning helps to know how to plan the homesteads, avoiding the spread of houses in areas that are agriculturally viable,” he explained.
Sammy Ruto, a resident in the municipality, lauded the planning strategy preparations citing Eldoret as one of the well-planned towns in the country.
He also pointed Mauritius as a well-planned island saying that if land use plans were well laid, Kapenguria municipality would take the lead in tourism attraction.
“I see Eldoret was well planned. I was lucky to visit Mauritius Island and saw that the towns there are well planned to maximize the scarce land they have,” he explained.
He added that the public should be well sensitised on land use to enable them plan on the pieces of land they have.
By Richard Muhambe and Maurice Osore
