Nakuru and Naivasha town are among 12 beneficiary towns in a Sh2 billion kitty given to help create digital maps.
This was revealed in workshop to launch an up-to-date digital topographical integrated urban development plan for Naivasha on Thursday.
The chief executive of Highland Surveyors, Kennedy Kubasu, is one of the consultants of the project who said the initiative is being sponsored by the national government, Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and the World Bank.
He said that Nakuru County was the only one amongst the 12 that had two of its major towns of Nakuru and Naivasha benefiting from the project. Stakeholders in the county’s planning department argued that the sub-county never had any proper mapping plan since its inception and hence the cause of the water and sewerage problem in the area.
In a speech read on behalf of Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua by his deputy Joseph Ruto, the governor said that the rate of urbanisation in the sub-county had prompted them to come up with the one-year plan.
“We need this so that we can curb the haphazard constructions in the county,” he added.
The governor argued that the lack of a proper plan in the county had pushed the unscrupulous officers in the area to allocate land to unsuspecting buyers who then disappear after the transactions.
The 20-year structure plan (2014-2035) covers a total of 954 square kilometres.