Nakuru County’s Molo and Gilgil towns are set to enjoy immense urban infrastructure development through increased funding to improve businesses and living conditions and attract investors once elevated into Municipalities.

Governor Lee Kinyanjui, while receiving reports of ad-hoc committees on the conferment of municipal status to Molo and Gilgil towns, said the towns are expected to be conferred the Municipality status, with an award of a Charter in May.

The report will be forwarded to the County Assembly of Nakuru for debate, and if approved, Section 9 of the Urban Areas and Cities Act empowers the Governor, on the resolution of the Assembly, to confer the towns the status of a Municipality by the grant of a Charter in the prescribed form.

Nakuru County Attorney, Kaleb Nyamwange, said this comes barely three months after Nakuru Municipality was awarded the City status charter by President Uhuru Kenyatta, a move that has started attracting investors into the region.

Mr Kahiga Waitindi, the chairman of the ad-hoc committee on the conferment of Municipal status to Gilgil town, said his team extensively looked into the heritage and diversity of the region and its growth potential and need for government interventions.

His Molo town counterpart, Mr Simon Matiri said his team collected views from all relevant sectors and did site visits to ascertain elevation suitability before unanimously endorsing the award of the Municipality status.

Under the Urban Areas and Cities Act, a town can be elevated into a municipality if it has a population of at least 50,000 residents. According to the 2019 census conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Gilgil has a population of 185,209 residents while Molo has 156,732 people.

The two towns also met other key requirements, such as the ability to generate enough revenue to adequately fulfil its responsibilities to deliver key services to its residents, enough spaces for expansion, presence overall framework to guide its development among others.

Upon elevation, Gilgil and Molo will become the third and fourth town to be Municipalities after Nakuru, and Naivasha. Nakuru County is the pioneer of the upgrade of towns to Municipalities and a Municipality to a city under the 2010 Constitution.

The County Government of Nakuru advises County residents to exercise caution while handling fire, especially now children are at home for the holiday.

County Chief Officer for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, Ms Ann Njenga said recent fire incidences point at human negligence.

She was speaking at Elburgon in Molo sub-County when she presented humanitarian assistance by Governor Lee Kinyanjui to Mr George Omosa who recently lost 3 children in a fire incident.

Among the items were 30 irons sheets and mattresses to help Mr Omosa rebuild his livelihood. She said the County would deliver more items in the coming days.

“Governor Lee’s administration has invested heavily in disaster preparedness and management. Recently, the County bought 2 more modern fire engines to boost capacity,” she stated.

A modern fire station under construction in Nakuru CBD is near completion and last week the County conducted interviews for 17 more firefighters.

Also, in November 2019, thirty youthful firefighters graduated from the Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas after a rigorous four-week training program on basic firefighting techniques, fully sponsored by the County.