Is Sh 1.3bn Uhuru-launched data centre at City Hall functional?

Nairobi County has been in the efforts of coming up with a system that can help it run effectively. This triggered the attention of President Uhuru Kenyatta. President Kenyatta, last year 2017 launched a data centre at City Hall that could hep in the operations of the country’s capital. Is the data centre in operation?

The data centre has not been made operational up to now. This is because the Nairobi County Government needs a specific special  software to operate the data centre.

According to a report on the site visit by the ICT Committee of the Nairobi County Assembly, the centre is still not functional.

The construction was funded by World Bank to a tune of Kshs1.3 billion and later abandoned under unclear circumstances.

At least Kshs1.5 billion is required to purchase VMware and Kshs30 million for ERP application system in order to support its key functions.

“These systems are the key components that can enable operationalisation of all the systems,” stated the ICT committee chairman Osman Adow.

The centre was built to support electronic payments and reduce the handling of cash, enhance collection and improve service delivery.

It will also cover functionalities such as revenue management, human resource, procurement, citizen services and specialized departmental functions like fleet management.

During its launch, the president lauded the county’s leadership for rolling out that the technology initiative which will ensure a centralised payment system and urged other counties to emulate Nairobi.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko had told residents that the government would install service centres in all the 43 post offices in Nairobi in order to bring services closer to the people.

“The public will enjoy easy payment solutions from wherever they are, using their computers and mobile phones,” stated Sonko.

Do you think service delivery by the Nairobi County government will improve if the data centre is brought into operation?

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