Thika starts race to be Kenya’s fifth city

Three months after Nakuru officially joined Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu in the city rank following the awarding of a charter to Nakuru Municipality by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Thika town in Kiambu County has now started a similar journey with hopes to be named the fifth city in the country.

The county administration is already workiwith the national government to clear the road for upgrade.

With a population of 279,429 as per the 2019 national census, a number said to have increased since, the county is racing against time to put up key infrastructural developments that match the city status.

The devolved unit, through Kenya Urban Support Programme in collaboration with the World Bank is undertaking numerous development projects  hoped to help the busy town reach its target.

Although plans are still at the initial stages, the county first moves include making Thika a single administrative division with corporate status and powers of self-government, thereby making it eligible for funding from the World Bank.

While inspecting development projects in Thika, Governor James Nyoro said his administration is undertaking various projects in partnership with the national government including the proposed airport at Gatuanyaga village, improvement of Thika’s road network and street lighting.

“After the county of Nakuru was elevated, we believe Thika town will be the next city. As an administration, we are racing against time to ensure we avail all the required necessities for this elevation. We have so far complete renovation and tarmacking of major roads within the town while others are still ongoing,” he said.

So far, the municipality has received millions of shillings since the 2018/2019 financial year, which has been used in renovation of parking spaces, tarmacking of link roads within the town, installation of solar and electric lights to facilitate better and secure movement of persons even at night.

The devolved unit, jointly with the World Bank, also acquired a new fire engine which will boost firefighting and disaster preparedness in the municipality.

Recarpeting rush

At the same time, all major roads in the town have been recarpeted at a cost of Sh700 million, including General Kago, Haile Selassie, Harry Thuku, Kenyatta Highway, Kwame Nkrumah, Magoko, Bull and Mama Ngina. Others are Stadium, Temple, Thika Girls, Uhuru Street, Upper Hill and Workshop.

The county has also started to lobby for an airport to be constructed at the 635 acres of land multinational pineapple juice manufacturer Demonte Industries ceded to it.

Former governor, Ferdinand Waititu, in 2018, signed a deal with the management of the fruit processing company, which saw them give up some acres of its unutilised land in Thika East sub county.

Thika is home to over 170 running factories that have employed thousands of locals, tens of real estate companies and higher learning public and private institutions.

Residents who spoke to People Daily on the town’s quest for city status, expressed joy over the idea and said it would spur attraction of more investors, who would, in turn, create more job opportunities for them.

However, the locals urged the county government to streamline provision of key services, among them rehabilitation of roads in the outskirts of the busy town, a better planning and creation of a modern garbage disposal and eco-friendly amenities.

“We are happy the county is pushing the idea of Thika becoming a city,  which is quite welcome as it comes with more allocation of funds and improvement of services. However, there are areas it should work on first. Among them is repairing or tamarcking some interior roads that are still in bad status,” Moses Mugi, a local businessman said.

His sentiments were echoed by Thika District Business Association Chairman, Alfred Wanyoike, who said the rank will attract foreign investors who will largely help solve the unemployment quagmire most educated locals have found themselves in.

“We would like to hit a target of about 500 factories ranging from small to major ones which means more employment to our people. Thika has 265 factories but most of them closed due to Covid-19. We currently have 176 firms that are active and running, but this number is low going by the number of unemployed youths leaving universities for the job market. Elevation of Thika is welcome and we are working with the county to ensure it materialises,” said Wanyoike.

 Wanyoike revealed the municipality board will need to make  a requisition to the county executive committee member in charge of land and housing, who is expected to write to the county cabinet. 

The matter will later be tabled at the county assembly and later governor Nyoro will engage Lands Cabinet Secretary Faridah Karoney.

Thorny issues

Karoney will form an Ad hoc committee that will review the boundaries and pass a resolution on whether or not to qualify the town for the city status.

Even as the county seeks to elevate the town to a higher rank, the busy town continues to grapple with longstanding hawker menace, unplanned town transport system, traffic jams, inadequate parking space, poor waste management, water shortages and delays in building plans approvals.

 Other challenges that could hamper the ongoing process is increased grabbing of land set aside for public amenities.

Wanyoike said there is need for a more multi-sectoral approach to solutions within the town including increasing consulting residents in identifying their priorities and suggesting solutions to their own challenges.

He added that unplanned urbanisation has led to stagnation of Thika’s business development and that pollution, congestion, insecurity and other consequences that are scaring away potential investors.