City mortuary to get Sh1b facelift

City Mortuary will be modernised at a cost of Sh1 billion if the 2016-17 spending plan is approved.

And the county government also plans to use Sh221 million to buy a 120-acre piece of land in Kajiado County to be used as a cemetery.

The land is to replace Nairobi’s Langata cemetery that was declared full 20 years ago.

Health Executive Benard Muia said: “There is need to have new land for a cemetery. We have already identified the piece of land to be converted into a cemetery. The land is situated between the border of Nairobi and Kajiado and the county has already earmarked it for purchase.”

He said the move to seek for an alternative burial ground had been necessitated not only by the fact that Lang’ata was full, but also that Nairobi’s population had increased rapidly over the years.

Muia said City mortuary an accommodate 250 bodies, but his department was working on ensuring that the capacity was increased to approximately 600 bodies in the next financial year.

Modernised parlour

“There is need to have a modernised funeral parlour so that we can effectively carry out mortuary services for Nairobi residents. The process to modernise the city mortuary has already begun and should be concluded before the end of the coming 2016-17 financial year,” the executive added.

The money will cater for the purchase of equipment, drugs among other things.

The Michael Ogada-led Budget and Appropriation Committee had allocated the health ministry Sh6.5 billion in the proposed budget that should be approved by the June 30.

Over the years, City Hall has made numerous attempts to buy land for an alternative cemetery but has ended up being short changed.

The defunct Nairobi City Council tried to buy land in Mavoko, Machakos County, but their attempts were not fruitful due to alleged corruption.

City Hall officials are alleged to have valued the land at Sh283 million, which was in contrast to the real land value of Sh24 million.

The officials are said to have pocketed the remainder of the cash after they paid the purported seller a quarter of the quoted price.

The National Land Commission recently declined an application from the city government to have a 56-acre piece of land next to Lang’ata Cemetery, for fear that it would interfere with Lang’ata forest, which covers 11 square miles.

Other allocations related to interment services include Sh29 million for the completion of a wall at Lang’ata cemetery and Sh10 million for the rehabilitation of the crematorium.