City Hall officer says county cannot maintain them as it does not own the project.
Six years after its launch, City Hall says the project is still under the Chinese firm’s control, making it untenable for the county to cater for its maintenance.
Mr Karanja said the company wants to be paid Sh7.2 million to it before they can repair the damaged cameras and subsequently hand over the project to the county government.
Most surveillance CCTV cameras installed in Nairobi City centre are not functional and cannot be relied on for security purposes, it has been revealed.
This comes as a Nairobi County official said the county government cannot maintain them as it does not own the project.
County Roads and Public Works chief officer said most of the 42 CCTV cameras -- installed within the central business district at a cost of Sh437 million -- are faulty.
Appearing before Nairobi County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday, Mr Karanja said City Hall is unable to maintain the cameras as the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Integrated Urban Surveillance System Project's owners have not been handed it over.
In May last year, it was revealed that 26 out of the 42 CCTV’s installed in major roads such as Moi Avenue, Uhuru Highway, Kenyatta Avenue and Tom Mboya Street to control traffic – are not functional.
Those installed along University Way and at Lusaka Roundabout have also since stopped working after they were damaged by students and a contractor respectively.
In September 2012, then Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development awarded a contract to Chinese firm M/s Nanjing LES Information Technology Limited for the supply, installation, testing, commissioning and handing over of the project.
Security project
The plan was conceptualised as a security project that would involve installation of security cameras, vehicle number plate recognition cameras, rehabilitation of signalised junctions and construction of one main control centre at Nairobi Area Police headquarters at Milimani and the redundant control centre at City Hall Annex.
Six years later, the chief officer says that the project is still under the Chinese firm’s control, making it untenable for the county to cater for its maintenance.
Mr Karanja said the company wants to be paid Sh7.2 million to it before they can repair the damaged cameras and subsequently hand over the project to the county government.
“We had pledged to pay before the contractor could resume maintenance works and subsequent handover of the project to us but we are yet to settle the bill and that is why the contractor has not resumed the project maintenance,” said Mr Karanja.
However, PAC chairman Wilfred Odalo questioned the chief officer why City Hall has pledged to pay for the damages that they are not responsible for and in a project they do not yet own.
Mr Karanja they pledged to cater for the damages since security in the city is a priority, citing the recent terror attack at the DusitD2 on 14 Riverside Complex.
The committee has resolved to invite the contractor in its next sitting to give more details on the issue.
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