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"speaker_name": "Hon. Aden Duale",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Defence",
"speaker": {
"id": 15,
"legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
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"content": "Consequently, the Ministry is collaborating with the County Government of Nairobi to establish the management modalities for the parks before the official opening. The rehabilitation of the parks was geared towards enhancing visitors' experience by ensuring the parks meets globally accepted standards. The works undertaken in the Parks include the following (what we have done since we took that project): Creation, improvement and sprucing up of green spaces, gardens and lawns, the introduction of control access points and enhanced security through gates and fences, setting up of container restaurants, mainly fast food, creation of a skating park, innovation of a culturally symbolic Nyatiti water feature for events, setting up of outdoor libraries and reading areas. We expect that during lunchtime Kenyans can walk to that park to spend an hour. We have put benches there. We expect the Nairobi County Government to put Wi-Fi, so that people can have a one-hour break from conferences in the hotels around there. If you want to go and stretch your legs, you can just walk to the park and read your book, send emails and have a very good ambience environment. We have also set up outdoor plazas and shelter gardens. We have done a creation of water cascade. We have built enough ablution facilities designated for both genders. We have improved and done additional walkways and jogging tracks. Mr. Speaker, Sir, even this Parliament should have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nairobi County Government; that in the evening, Senators and MPs after the gym, those who want to walk can cross to Uhuru Park and walk or jog early in the morning because the air and the environment is welcoming. Of course, the cost of the project for both Uhuru and the Central Park was Kshs1.18 billion. The Nairobi County Government in future must do two things: One, to sustain and maintain the standards. Our biggest fear is for this Park to go back to its old situation. We expect Nairobi County to have competent men and women and for people to learn from other countries on how parks are run. Two, to allocate budget and funds for the proposed additional facilities which were not in the contract, but which we feel are very important. These works are estimated to be about Kshs550 million or less. There is a plan to do a dancing water fountain and CCTV installation, which is very key for security purposes. We want to do a pedestrian footbridge and maybe add more restaurants in the future and do a proper management office. Mr. Speaker, Sir, to make sure that we help the Governor and the county, we have agreed that we will let our technical team stay with him for the next six to eight months. These are expert engineers, architects and landscapers from the Ministry of Defence who participated in this project. We have asked the Governor that we do an MoU with him tomorrow that we leave the site within six months, to show him support in case there is a small problem during the transition. We told him that our team is to help them acclimatize. Already his people, the Nairobi County Government staff, are doing good work in terms of cleaning, cutting the grass and maintaining cleanliness. During this transition period, we will supervise the Nairobi County Government to ensure that they complete the installation of the associated facilities to further enhance The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}