Bungoma County’s aggressive push for urbanization was last week given a shot in the arm.
The County received a shs 1 billion grant to upgrade infrastructure within Bungoma Municipality and decongest the Towns CBD.
The grant, dubbed Sustainable Urban Economic Development (SUED), follows a winning proposal on Bungoma County’s demonstrated desire to improve its urban infrastructure.
This is part of its plans to attract critical investments, opening up farms to markets and kick-starting high potential value chain projects.
Managed through the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), SUED is a £60 million five-year programme that will support up to 12 fast growing municipalities in Kenya.
The municipalities will plan their urbanization better, improve links with larger markets that were previously inaccessible and prepare for climate-resilient and sustainable growth.
As a beneficiary, Bungoma County will receive expert advice in urban planning, training on urban management, investment promotions as well as cashing the Sh1 billion seed capital to fund infrastructure development and value chain projects.
Governor Wycliffe Wangamati said specifically from the proposal, part of the grant will go towards decongesting the town and easing movement within the Central Business District.
“With the funding, we will build a state-of-the-art market cum Bus Park in Bungoma,” Wangamati said.
He thanked the UK, saying the seed grant comes in handy to boost infrastructure and train personnel on the best practices of urban management as Bungoma thinks up ways of applying for city status.
Wangamati has in the recent past been pushing for creation of more municipalities and expanding boundaries of existing municipalities to cover more wards.