President Uhuru Kenyatta addressing residents when he toured Mombasa on Sunday. [Photo/ PSCU]
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday assured residents of Coast region that his administration will solve the problem of squatters.
At the same time he outlined development projects the Jubilee government had rolled out in the Coast to warrant its residents to vote for him during the August 8 election.Uhuru said in September 2016 he launched the Sh4.2 billion State-funded construction of the 110-kilometre Malindi-Sala Gate, one of the key roads that will boost tourism and promote the economy for the benefit of residents.Early this year, he added, he flagged off the tarmacking of the famous Mariakani-Bamba road at a cost of Sh2.1 billion when he visited the town of Bamba, immortalised by the song ‘Safari ya Bamba ni Machero’.With the tarmacking of the 45 km road, the journey to Bamba will no longer be a difficult one – providing the much-needed relief to residents who had waited for it for decades.In March, he launched construction of the Sh1.5 billion Marikebuni-Majengo-Marafa road, the upgrading to bitumen standards of the 35-kilometre Kaloleni-Kilifi road at a cost of Sh2.3 billion as well as the Sh2.3 billion Kakuyuni-Gongoni and Kakuyuni-Kilifi pipeline project that will provide water to over 300,000 residents among other projects impacting positively on the lives of people in the area.On electricity, the president pointed out that his administration had increased connection to households in Kilifi County from 13,000 before 2013 to the current 73,958. Some 403 primary schools have also been connected to electricity in the county through the Last Mile Connectivity project.He also spoke of the milestones his administration has achieved towards making health care affordable, particularly specialised health care provision for Kenyans.“In Kilifi County, the Jubilee administration has invested Sh810 million under the Managed Equipment Services to install modern medical equipment to Malindi Level 5 Hospital and Kilifi Level 4 Hospital through the Managed Equipment Services (MES) project to ensure residents have access to specialised health care that was previously out of their reach,” he said.He said he intends to expand the free maternity service to include provision of free National Hospital Insurance Fund medical cover for one year for mother and child upon delivery in public health facilities.“These are some of the projects that we want to continue implementing so that we complete the journey we have embarked on to transform the Coast region and the whole country. That is why we are seeking your votes and support to enable us do that,” he said in Kilifi on Saturday.