Machakos County Integrated Development Plan 2018-2022

Abstract

Machakos County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya with a projected population of 1.4 million in 2018. Its capital and largest town is Machakos, which was the country’s first administrative headquarters. The County has good road network connecting eight neighboring counties with the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) terminus at Athi River. It borders Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. The County was ranked position 3 in ‘ease of doing business’ by the World Bank Group 2016 and banks on transformative projects such as the Konza Technology City and the Machakos New City for its growth and development.

The County has a total area coverage of 6,208.2km2 with availability of vast land for investment and a set industrial development corridor in Mavoko Sub-County. The County has modern real estate facilities that provide habitat for residents of Machakos and neighboring counties, especially Nairobi. Building materials such as cement, building stones, ballast, sand, steel etc. are readily available due to the various industries located within the County. The County has approximately 3,720km2 of arable land which is under constant decline due to climatic changes and shift in land use to mainly real estate development. There are 12 irrigation schemes which sum up to 3,220 acres with a great potential for new and enlargement of the existing ones. There are 15 proposed new irrigation schemes summing up to 1,725 acres.