KCB VENTURE 1 final

COUNTY: ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
work around that,” he says.
In total, the bank financed
between 20 to 25 per cent of
the Ogle Construction Wajir
tarmac project.
“Without KCB Bank, we
could not be talking about
contracts, getting the much
needed finances to continue
with the project and the
necessary equipment,” he says.
Ogle Construction Company,
constructed the first eight
kilometers out of the 28
kilometers that are now
tarmacked in the town.
Abdi describes building
the tarmac road as the most
unique experience in his road
construction career.
“Unlike other urban areas
where we have a project and
people have encroached on
the road and thus it is difficult
to relocate them, in Wajir,
the residents cleared the
roads even before we reached
the sections that they had
encroached on,” says Abdi with
a smile.
According to Wajir
County Governor Ahmed
Abdullahi, the tarmac road
has transformed Wajir town
more than anything else since
independence.
“Before the tarmac road, we
had only two storied buildings
in Wajir Town. We now have
at least five storied buildings
coming up. We didn’t even
have demarcations for the
town but the road has now
made it possible for us to
demarcate the town better,” the
Governor said.
Construction of a tarmac
road, the most unorthodox
means of spurring
development, has totally
transformed the once sleepy
and dusty town.
Value of property along the
tarmac has gone up. Dozens
of old buildings along the
road have come down and are
being replaced with modern
buildings. There are two
new hotels. One of them, the
Wajir Hilton Hotel, is already
recording a rise in business.
A Kenya Medical Training
College (KMTC) is almost
complete. The county has
constructed a Huduma Centre
and for the first time in history,
you can train as a teacher
within the county at the Wajir
Teachers Training College.
There is even a university
under construction.
Residents like Shukri
Dubow, a 35-year-old
watchman who calls himself
Contribution to
the economy
500
The number of cars
estimated to be operating
in Wajir, up from 150,
following the tarmacking
of the roads
“macho ya town,” have a
new moniker for the town.
“This is the new Eastleigh,”
he terms it.
Like Eastleigh, there is a
new swagger in the town. The
county recently sounded a
warning to donkey owners to
“keep off” the tarmac.
Residents used to walking
can now use taxis.
Before the tarmac was
done, the local matatu and
taxi association estimates that
there were about 150 vehicles
operating in the town.
“We now have more than
500 vehicles. We are excited
that soon we might also have a
feel of traffic jams,” Abdi Noor,
a taxi operator, jokes.
Even boda boda operators
are not being left behind.
“We used to have less than
100 boda bodas operating in
this town. Since the tarmac
road was done, we now have
more than 300 operating,” says
Timothy Kamenjo, a 25-yearold
boda boda operator.
Along the tarmac road,
businesses open late after the
county government installed
20 floodlights and more than
300 solar-powered street lights
to boost security.
Wajir now offers an
example in road infrastructure
development to other counties.
“Just the other day, there
was a delegation from
Mandera County who visited
us to learn how they can
construct tarmac roads,” Mr
Abdullahi says.
The tarmac is now a main
feature in the reconstruction
of the new Wajir that is meant
to be a “Gateway to northern
Kenya, with a dream to be
the affluent, service-oriented
capital of Kenya’s forgotten
north, and a beacon of hope
Do you have a dream?
Contact : +254 (20) 3270199
corporateservice@kcb.co.ke
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