February 7th 2019 By Cheruiyot Korir
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the multi-agency, Joint National Mapping and National Resource Mapping team, set up last year to conduct geospatial survey and mapping out of national resources have updated 75 topographical maps and drew six full county maps and digitized the cadastral plans for Nairobi City County.
President Kenyatta said the new cadastral maps for the capital City of Nairobi is a milestone in the country’s urban development. He observed that the development would facilitate quality physical planning, spur increased revenue collection, and promote environmental conservation by use of detailed and accurate maps.
Speaking at the Kenyatta International Conference today when he received a progress report for the Joint National Mapping and National Resource Mapping Projects, Presidents Kenyatta said once complete, the Projects will provide Government Agencies with the necessary data to enhanced efficient delivery.
The Head of state added that, the Projects will also benefit the private Sector through opening-up of opportunities in infrastructure development, e-commerce, extractive industries and the 24-hour economy.
Mr. Kenyatta said, currently, the counties utilize 11 different revenue collection systems, which do not integrate with systems used by the National Government and those used by other counties. He regretted that the situation has severely limited the ability of county governments to collect revenue.
To eliminate duplication, and wastage of resources, Mr. Kenyatta directed the Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Council of Governors, the National Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority to form a Multi-Agency Team to deliver on a single revenue collection system, that integrate with National Government Systems and used across all 47 Counties.
Stressing on the importance of up-to-date geospatial data in planning and development, for both the National and County governments, the head of State directed the relevant Agencies to take advantage of technological advancements to provide proper planning in urban areas that will enable Kenyans achieve high standards of living. President Kenyatta gave the Taskforce upto November 2020 to complete the projects.
Mr. Kenyatta lauded the multi-agency team saying the team worked at minimal cost noting that the initial estimates for the nationwide airborne geophysical survey would have cost the country Ksh.7 billion. However, the President noted that, through pooling of resources from different Ministries and Agencies, the cost was cuts to Ksh. 2 billion.
Additionally, the head of state noted the initial projections had indicated that the production of a single map sheet would cost us Ksh. 148 million. However, through collaborative and synergy of the multi-agency team each map cost Ksh. 70,000 to produced.
The President cited a number of other national flagship projects such as the LAPSSET, SGR, the Blue Economy, Immigration and Border Security, Counter-Terrorism and Environmental Conservation and Rejuvenation as other examples of great successes achieved by Multi-Agency model. For effectiveness and efficiency, the head of state said such efforts should be adopted across government.