Kericho county officials have visited Kiambu county to benchmark its solar-powered street lighting programme and learn from its locally manufactured cabro-making machines used to improve roads, streets and walkways.
The delegation, led by Kericho County Executive Committee Member for Public Works, Roads and Transport Charles Birech, toured projects implemented under Kiambu’s Angaza Kiambu programme, which seeks to expand lighting across the county through solar-powered streetlights.
Birech said the visit was aimed at enabling Kericho officials to see firsthand how Kiambu had used solarisation to improve security and support economic activity.
“We are here to benchmark and see for ourselves the good work Kiambu has done, especially in the Angaza Kiambu programme and lighting up the county through solarisation,” Birech said.
He said the delegation was also interested in Kiambu’s road network and t
“We wanted to see for ourselves the good work Kiambu has done, especially on the road network and the cabro manufacture and use in the streets and walkways in the towns in the county. I want to say congratulations; it is a good job,” he said.
Birech said the idea for the benchmarking visit emerged from engagements among county executives responsible for infrastructure, where Kiambu’s projects had been highlighted.
“I learnt this through our forum for CECs in infrastructure, and that is why I called my counterpart requesting if we could visit Kiambu,” he said.
He said Kericho hoped to apply lessons from the visit to its own development programmes, particularly in expanding solar-powered lighting.
“We have really learnt a lot that we will take home, starting from the Angaza programme. Once you light up an area, you achieve security and boost the 24-hour economy,” Birech said.
The Kericho CEC said the county was keen on adopting approaches that could improve public spaces while reducing the cost of infrastructure development.
The delegation also examined Kiambu’s cabro-making initiative, which enables the county to produce paving stones for use in streets, walkways and other public infrastructure.
Birech said local production of construction materials could offer counties an opportunity to undertake more projects while building their own technical capacity.
He noted that Kericho and Kiambu shared similarities in their economic activities, providing opportunities for the counties to exchange knowledge beyond infrastructure.
“Kiambu and Kericho share a lot in terms of the products they produce. We have tea, coffee, dairy,” he said.
He said the exchange would allow both counties to learn from each other and strengthen cooperation in areas where they had developed expertise.
“So we wanted to see for ourselves and take back home the knowledge we got,” Birech said.
He also invited Kiambu officials to visit Kericho and benchmark on programmes and initiatives that the county had implemented.
“They could also visit us and learn a few things from us in Kericho,” he said.
