Nairobi sitting on 57 stalled projects worth Sh2.24 billion, budget watchdog says

Nairobi County is sitting on 57 unfinished development projects worth an estimated Sh2.24 billion, with several contractors leaving project sites after failing to receive payment for completed works and certificates.

According to the Controller of Budget’s review of Nairobi County’s spending for the 2025/26 financial year, the county cited funding constraints, non-payment of certified works, contractor abandonment, procurement challenges and other contractual issues for the delays. The report shows that projects undertaken by the county received Sh208.88 million in payments during the year, but work on several of them had stopped.

The largest project among those affected is the development of the Integrated County Revenue Management System/Enterprise Resource Planning (ICRMS/ERP) system at City Hall, estimated to cost Sh847.2 million. Despite Sh150 million having been paid, only 37% of the project had been completed, with the county attributing the stall to a combination of funding, procurement, contractor, land, design and legal issues.

Other projects were also affected by the county’s failure to make payments. The Sh76 million Mwiki Social Hall and the Sh50 million Dandora II Youth Complex stalled after contractors left the sites; the Sh42 million rehabilitation of Makina Market stopped; and the reconstruction of nine ablution blocks in Embakasi was abandoned after the county failed to pay the initial Sh2 million certificate.

The county ended the 2025/26 financial year with Sh86.9 billion in outstanding bills, up from Sh83.1 billion at the beginning of the year. Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o directed the county to prioritise payment of genuine pending bills and make them the first charge on the FY2026/27 budget, to be settled on a first-in, first-out basis.