Auditors on the trail of Sh4.5b projects

A Kisumu city management worker cleans the main Kisumu - Ahero road at Nyamasaria.

Auditors have pitched camp at City Hall to probe the Sh4.5 billion donor-funded Kisumu Urban Project (KUP).

The team from the Kenya National Audit Office had earlier written to the KUP programme administrators seeking information about the projects they are financing.

KUP chief accountant Ochieng' Orwa confirmed the auditors' presence. "They are here as is a routine process to audit our work," he said.

KUP is mainly funded by the French Government, which has undertaken to construct five model schools and five bitumen standard roads.

There are also more than 30 multi-million-shilling roads and housing projects underway in the county.

The auditors had asked City Manager Dorice Ombara to submit a list of all projects and provide status updates on those that had not been completed.

Mrs Ombara was also expected to state which projects had been paid for and list down those with outstanding payments.

Project officials said approximately Sh2 billion had been paid to contractors and suppliers.

KUP administrator Charles Omollo told The Standard the projects included three gravel roads, three markets, 28 floodlights, one health centre, one social centre and three bio-centres. "The local detailed plan of the city and capacity building of the projects totals to €40 million (Sh4.613 billion) inclusive of management costs," Mr Omollo said.

Omollo said five model schools – Rweya, Thim Bonde, Got Nyabondo, Angira and Rota – had been completed and were ready to be handed over to the community by Governor Anyang' Nyong'o.

The administrator said the floodlights had also been erected while the bio -centres were completed and had been handed over to the beneficiary institutions.

The bitumen roads, he added, were at different stages of construction.