Parliament rejects the transfer of key projects to Treasury

The National Assembly has rejected the transfer of key infrastructure projects to the National Treasury under changes to the 2021/2022 budget.

In its report on budget estimates tabled on the floor of the house on Tuesday, the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) warned of likely discrepancies from the transfer of functions.

From July 1, the National Treasury is scheduled to become the implementing agency for projects including the Dongo-Kundu Special Economic Zone, SGR phase II (Nairobi-Naivasha) and the Mombasa Port Development Project.

Others are the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport corridor project (LAPSSET) and the Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Company (KMRC).

“The National Treasury will find it difficult to strike the balance between being the implementer of public finance and being a sectoral implementer of these infrastructure projects,” read part of the BAC report.

The transfer of the projects to the exchequer ministry follows an executive order which merged the operations of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and the Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) in August last year.

The three agencies are now centrally managed under the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN) under the coordination of the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) with Treasury as the oversight entity.

The National Treasury has subsequently seen an increased budgetary allocation of Ksh.155.2 billion.