Budget: County plans to spend less on projects

The county government has proposed to spend about Sh13.4 billion in the next financial year, with wages and health services taking a huge portion of the recurrent expenditure.

In the 2019/2020 financial year, the wage bill will grow to Sh5.3 billion, up from Sh5 billion in the current financial year.

Health services will take Sh3.2 billion, finance and economic planning Sh1.6 billion, transport and infrastructure Sh1.3 billion, waste management Sh1 billion while devolution and public service will be allocated Sh1.1 billion.

Development budget has been slashed to Sh4 billion from Sh4.96 billion in the current financial year, raising eyebrows among residents.

It emerged that the county government was struggling to offer services as wage bill continues to rise.

The county government plans to raise Sh4 billion local revenue in the next financial year, up from Sh3.9 billion in the current financial year.

Speaking at the Tononoka Social Hall during a public participation meeting yesterday, Finance Executive Mariam Mbaruk said the wage bill had ballooned to the extent that the county government was unable to open new hospitals and early childhood development education centres.

Community caregivers

Chief Officer for Health Services Khadija Shikelly said the county government would place 1,600 volunteer community health caregivers on National Health Insurance Fund scheme.

County Executive for Lands Edward Nyale said most raw liquid waste in the county was being emptied into the Indian Ocean without being treated because the county cannot afford to construct a sewerage system.

Mr Nyale said only 17 per cent of the county was connected to the sewerage system at Kipevu sewerage plant.

“The county requires 200km of sewerage system while the five-year allocation from the exchequer cannot fund even a half of the project,” he said.

A resident, Mr Morris Mae, noted that all county estates and other residential areas in Mombasa lacked proper sewerage system.

Alternative ways

Meanwhile, Mbaruk said the county was looking for alternative ways of increasing water supply because it only receives 50,000 cubic metres a day against a demand of 200,000 cubic metres.

“Even if we get 80,000 cubic metres daily from the proposed Mwache dam, we will have 70,000 cubic metres deficit. We need to look for alternative sources of supply,” she said.

She promised that a contractor would be sent to work on the Mombasa Stadium soon and called for patience. The county government last year announced that the stadium would be repaired at a cost of Sh1.2 billion.

In the budget proposal, the county government plans to construct 3,000 social housing units in 10 county estates.