Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, on Friday, June 16, announced that the World Bank had approved Ksh45 billion for government development programmes.
During the Future is Urban conference in Nakuru County, the DP revealed that the funding was approved hours after Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u, presented the Ksh3.6 trillion budget.
Gachagua detailed that the money would be disbursed to select counties for urban development projects.
However, he did not detail whether the money was a loan or a grant.
"As we rolled out the first budget of the Kenya Kwanza administration, we received good news from Washington D.C. The World Bank approved approximately Ksh45 billion to support 77 municipalities in 45 counties.
"Two special municipalities in Kakuma and Daadab were also included," he stated.
On the other hand, he expressed that the funds were a recognition of President William Ruto's slum upgrading and affordable housing programmes.
He maintained that the government was still focused on implementing the Housing Fund plan despite opposition from Azimio la Umoja leaders led by Raila Odinga.
"The irony of the news from Washington D.C. is that as organisations support urban housing and slum upgrading, some people in the country are opposed to the same.
"Now that we have Ksh45 billion from World Bank, what will they do?" he posed.
On his part, Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga called for more allocations to counties for urban development projects underlining that the devolved units depended solely on external funding.
"This is an area in the Constitution that needs to be fixed. The Senate allocates money religiously following Schedule Four. Without the World Bank funding then there is no money we are allocating," he stated.
Schedule Four outlines the functions of the national and county governments.
Apart from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is also set to Finance the 2023/24 budget to the tune of Ksh57 billion(USD 410 million) in July.
Details of the scheduled funding were revealed during the reading of the Ksh36 trillion budget on June 15 by the Treasury CS.
