Kidero: I have transformed Nairobi since I took office

Nairobi Governor Dr Evans Kidero says he has managed to transform the city two years since assuming office as the Governor of the country’s capital.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s Sunday Live show, Kidero said he has worked hard to improve the state of the county by ensuring it is a more habitable place.

“I want to turn Nairobi into the city of choice to invest in, to work in and to live in,” he said.

“For this to be achieved the infrastructure must be well done and the transport system must be easy.”

Kidero said he has worked with relevant agencies to improve security in the county adding that cases of insecurity have reduced tremendously since he took office.

He added that in a bid to improve security, he has installed lights that have also opened up the city centre for business which can now run to late hours.

“When I took office, half of the 26,000 security lights erected were not working. We have rectified this and now all the lights are working,” he stated.

“We are installing 56,000 more lights in the city centre as well as in the grassroots in order to eradicate insecurity.”

The governor also mentioned that the traffic situation has been worsened by the number of cars on the roads saying though the roads were designed to handle only 30,000 cars, the number has since increased to 600,000.

“The roads in Nairobi were designed to accommodate 30,000 cars but we now have 600,000 cars with 8,000 cars being registered every month. We are expanding the roads to address this situation,” he said.

“We are also expanding Parklands road joining Westlands to Thika Road and nine transport corridors to make them ideal for rapid bus transport system,” stated the governor.

“We have begun constructing the Outering road and next we will move to Ngong road and Jogoo from Mama Lucy hospital in order to decongest the city.”

The governor revealed that the county government is working with the railways authority to improve the rail system in the county as it can handle many people at once.

Commenting on the health status in the county, the governor said that plans are underway to construct a new Pumwani hospital, complete with a training school, at a cost of Ksh 3 billion.

He also revealed that the county is building a 250 bed hospital in Mutuini and is looking for a partnership to modernise and upgrade Mbagathi Hospital to national status.

He further stated that a new mortuary is being built with forensic lab to substitute the overstretched City Mortuary.

Kidero became Nairobi’s first ever governor in 2013 after defeating his closest contender, Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu of TNA.

The former Mumias Sugar manager, who ran on an ODM ticket garnered 692,483 votes against Waititu’s 617,839.

Waititu however contested the elections in court but the case was eventually thrown out on grounds that it was time barred.