Parliament wants ministries and State corporations to avoid starting any new projects until the ones launched under the Mwai Kibaki administration’s Vision 2030 blueprint are completed.
Some key projects started under former President Kibaki have been struggling during under President Kenyatta's rule.
They include the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport corridor (Lapsset), the Sh56 billion expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and the Konza Technopolis.
Parliament wants ministries and State corporations to avoid starting any new projects until the ones launched under the Mwai Kibaki administration’s Vision 2030 blueprint are completed.
The agencies have instead been directed to focus on fast tracking the completion of ongoing projects, handing them a new lease of life after slowing down with scarcity of funds.
“The committee recommends that no new projects should be started except externally funded projects and/or key flagship projects under Vision 2030,” the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) said in its report on the 2017/18 budget estimates that was tabled in the National Assembly last Thursday.
Struggling
Some key projects started under former President Kibaki have been struggling since President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration took power in March 2013 as funding priorities changed.
The Kenyatta regime has shunned some of the mega infrastructure projects that Mr Kibaki commissioned at the tail end of his 10-year rule – choosing instead to start its own.
The list of infrastructure projects that have been struggling for funding includes the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport corridor (Lapsset), the Sh56 billion expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and the Konza Technopolis.
In his first budget on taking office, Mr Kenyatta opted to pump significant resources into the construction of the yet to be commissioned Sh447 billion standard gauge railway (SGR).
Work on the 609km Mombasa-Nairobi segment of the railway began in 2014 and is expected to be commissioned on June 1.
Lamu berths
Mr Kenyatta, however, failed to allocate Lapsset the Sh10 billion it needed to build the first three berths of Lamu port.
Lapsset envisages a container port and a crude oil terminal in Lamu that is connected to the hinterland by roads, railway and pipeline, creating an export hub for the region.
Mr Kenyatta also failed to provide funds for the construction of the Sh56 billion JKIA Greenfields terminal, cancelling the contract that had been a warded to a Chinese firm instead.
Work on the new airport terminal was expected to start in January 2014 after Mr Kenyatta re-launched the project in December 2013.
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