12 000 000 000 Budget

The City Council of Nairobi (CCN) has sent out a stern message to land owners in the city to pay up or face prosecution.

Town Clerk Philip Kisia says the Council is owed a whooping Kshs 14.86 billion in unpaid land rates.

Councilor Okumu said that in the last two months 300 rate defaulters were taken to court and kshs 14.8 billion is expected to be paid from the court processes.

"The council has started to take all the necessary legal steps to collect all outstanding amounts of Kshs 14.9 billion in rates from defaulters" he said.

He said that "in this next financial year there will be no waiver on any rates due to the council "

According to Okumu, the council debt resolution stood at Kshs. 2.12 Billion besides having cleared all the retirees' dues of about Kshs 300m within this financial year.

He said that the Council is seeking about Kshs 2.12 billion from other sources to clear all the outstanding statutory, legal and general creditors.

Also it emerged that the Nairobi water company has a loan of Kshs 21 billion for water infrastructure which is a liability that the council needs to clear.

Speaking at the release of the 2010 to 2011 council budget Monday, Finance Chairman Michael Ogada Okumu said the council needs Kshs 12.2 billion to runs its affairs up from last years budget of Kshs 10 billion.

Ogada urged the government and state corporations to expedite payment of over Kshs 3.2 billion owed to the council.

Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa urged city residents to help the Council in delivering services through prompt settlement of rates.

The Town Clerk said while the council is ready to deliver services to the residents, most are not ready to pay their rates making it difficult for the council to achieve its targets.

Ogada said the Council is prioritizing its activities expansion and rehabilitation of its roads infrastructure in order to attract investments.

Ogada allocated Sh1.3 billion to the improvement of road infrastructure and a further Sh163.5 million for the rehabilitation of health facilities.

Some Sh104 million will be used to buy more garbage trucks, Sh77 million to rehabilitate and expand schools and Sh163 million for provision of drugs and rehabilitation of health centres.

The council also set aside Sh116 million to buy firefighting equipment.

A further Sh131 million was set aside for street lighting and high mast lighting while Sh77 million was set aside to rehabilitate and expand schools within the city.

The council's teething problem in completing a new city master plan has been on the tables for long following the expiry of the current one 10 years ago which was developed to cater for under 1.5 million people yet the population of Nairobi has grown to over 4 million residents.

"We are also seriously looking at expanding our learning facilities to cater for the growing number of children in need of education," said Ogada.

He urged Nairobi residents to endevour to use to road signs and avoid unnecessary accidents saying enormous resources have been spent in providing safe pedestrian crossing areas that are not properly used.

Elsewhere, the Nairobi Central Business District Association says rise of crime has adversely affected the business in the city.

Nairobi Central Business District Association -NCBDA- chairman Timothy Muriuki says the situation has discouraged the local and foreign investors.

Addressing a press conference in Nairobi Thursday, Muriuki cited the recent grenade attack at Uhuru Park as one of the incidences that are worrying the business community.

Muriuki called on government equip the police well so as to curb insecurity within the city centre.

Muriuki said that sixteen CCTV cameras installed by NCBDA have been vandalized and called on the Government to urgently fund the second installation to enhance security.