State sets aside Sh4.5b for infrastructure restoration

By David Nduro, KNA

The government will spend Sh4.5 billion to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the floods following heavy rains experienced in the country.

            Government Spokesperson Col. (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna disclosed that part of the money would be used to reconstruct roads and bridges infrastructure and also be used to resettle Kenyans already putting up in 47 makeshift camps spread across the country.

            He said that 33 counties were affected by the flooding menace but 10 of them were most affected including Garissa, Tana River and West Pokot and to date some areas cannot be accessed by road.

            Oguna said that the number of human deaths reported following floods was 173 while 11,000 livestock perished and 76,000 families were displaced across the country.

            He added that the population affected in the floods calamity would be assisted with cash to help them resettle when the rains stop and therefore called upon the affected population to give accurate information and figures to make the process easier.

            Speaking at Ngaremara market in Isiolo County on Thursday, Oguna revealed that the government of China has advanced Sh500 million to Kenya for flood victims.

            The spokesman said that the government had disbursed relief supplies in terms of food and nonfood items to all the affected areas.

He observed that the adverse climate change would continue to cause extremes of wet and dry seasons, and therefore need for investing more in resilience so that people could cope with adverse effects in future.

Oguna said that the public should be sensitised on the importance of water storage by construction of dams and domestic water reservoirs so that they do not lack water as soon as the rains stop.

At the same time, for tree planting by all Kenyans in order to improve on environmental conservation and management citing that the flooding problem in West Pokot was made worse due to lack of tree cover in large area.

An elder from Ngaremara Ward, Francis Chwa asked the government to ensure the rain waters that flow to their residences every rainy season was diverted so as to stop further suffering.

He also called for reconstruction of the roads and bridges that were damaged in the area so that transportation of essential commodities to different villages would resume.