Excitement as Nakuru nears city status

Nakuru is in the process of seeking an upgrade to city status.

The county government is said to have put in place measures and working the round the clock to meet the specifications for their upgrade request to be approved.

The governer, Lee Kinyanjui, signed a municipal charter and put in place a board that will collect the county residents' views on their plan to upgrade, moves that will propel the county in achieving the city status.

In March 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law the Urban Areas and Cities (Amendment) Bill 2017 which redefined Kenya's city status requirements.

"The new law is intended to accelerate efficient and quality services to urban areas residents." said the president.

The law allows county governments to review criteria provided for classifying an area as a cit, municipality, town or market center.

To attain the status of a city, the law requires urban centes to have at least 250,000 residents, down from the previous figure of 500,000.

A city also needs to put in place proper infrastructure and facilities like state of the art stadia, solid waste management system, good roads, reliable electricity supply and quality education infrastructures.

Nakuru has already begun reconstructing major roads and giving facilities like local markets facelifts.

Plans are also underway to establish an airport at Lanet at a cost of Sh3 billion.

If granted the city status, Nakuru will join Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu and Kenya's cities.