Just like many urban centres which have witnessed an influx of people and as a result a ballooning population, Kitengela town has been grappling with the challenge of proper sanitation. The matter has seen property owners set up septic tanks which are expensive to maintain and sometimes overflow resulting to a serious risk of contracting debilitating illnesses.
With the residents tired of the Kajiado County Government’s failure in offering a long-lasting solution, they came up with a plan to construct a ksh 85 million sewer line. The 2 feet wide pipe is 45 kilometres long and runs all the way to Athi River EPZ Water and Sewerage trunk sewer.
Plot owners suit
In 2013, the county government had sued 22 plot owners for releasing raw sewage from their buildings into the sorroundings. This was contrary to the provisions of the Public Health Act. The accused were released by the Kajiado Law Court after paying bonds of between sh 180k – sh 200k.
However, two months later, they decided to team up and construct a sewer line. Under Engineer Titus Ndei, they mobilised for funds towards the Kitengela EPZ Neighbouring Community Sewer Project.
“We(the accused) moved with speed to acquire the necessary authorisation from the Export Processing Zone (EPZA), Nema and other relevant authorities after registering ourselves as Kitengela EPZ Neighbouring community sewer project within the first two months to convince the court,” said Ndei as captured by Nation.africa.
According to Ndei, the project would also offload the burden of elephantine payments that they made to the county government.
“You find that every after two weeks or 3 weeks you’re paying sh 200k. This has given us a lot of problems but we now have a chance to think twice,” he said.
Community contributions
Under the captaincy of Ndei, hundreds of plot owners contributed sh 250k each and also paid one thousand registration fee. Additionally, a non-refundable tariff fee that ranged from sh 7500 to sh 74000 was paid to the Export Processing Zone. The community project which cost 85 million is now complete and serves 818 landlords in Kitengela.
In the concluded 2022 elections, Ndei unsuccessfully vied for the MCA seat in Kitengela. He had a manifesto centred on a proper sewerage system, clean water, youth innovations and street lighting among others.
