Nairobi generates Sh4.8billion own source revenue in first half of 2024/25

Nairobi City County recorded a Ksh 426 million rise in own source revenue for the first half of the 2024/25 financial year.

Data from the City Hall’s finance department indicate the city county shows that Ksh 4.8 billion was raised during the period under review reflecting a rise from Ksh 4.2 billion in the last financial year 20223/24.

From July to December last year, the Johnson Sakaja-led administration collected Ksh 4, 815,106,845 indicating a major improvement from Ksh 4,217,055,247 billion for July to December 2023.

A majority of the revenue streams recorded an increase with land rates, parking, fire inspection, food handlers, the Nairobi Funeral Home (formerly City Mortuary) leading while others saw a drop for the period under review.

A comparison between the monthly collection in the current year and the previous indicates a rise in collection apart from December.

In the first half of the financial year, December, the county government recorded the lowest revenue with Ksh 600,888,885 being collected compared to Ksh 1,063,810,895 for the previous financial year 2023/24.

The county recorded a higher stream in October with Ksh 933,228,867 being collected a rise from Ksh 526,021,572 in the last financial year.

For the period under review, Ksh 338,438,477 was collected from land rates, Ksh 860,313,917 from parking, and Ksh 603,243,049 from the Unified business permit.

The Sakaja-led administration collected Sh966,241,586 from the plans and inspections, Sh315,679,195 from the billboards and advertisements, Ksh 294,144,250 as house rents, Ksh 1,518,000 from the fire inspection, Sh41,521,001 from the food handlers certificate and Ksh 107,676,057 from the markets.

City hall raised 234,365,361 from other incomes while the liquor board recorded Ksh 131,258,206 whereas the city hospitals recorded a rise with up to Ksh 736,857,781 being collected as the Nairobi Funeral home recorded a drop with Ksh 11,907,830 being collected for the period under review.

The city county collected Ksh 2,264,323,076 in the first quarter while Ksh 2,550,783,770 was collected in the second quarter recording an increase.

Land rates revenue was higher in the first quarter with the county collecting Ksh 196,074,592 while it dropped to Ksh 142,363,884 in the second quarter.

The parking fees also dropped from Ksh 434,394,048 in the first quarter to Ksh 425,919,869 in the second quarter.

The revenue collected from the Unified Business Permit increased from Ksh 275,807,390 to Ksh Sh327,435,659 in the second quarter.

Plans and inspections which include the building permits recorded a negative with Sh481,855,602 being collected in the second quarter while Sh484,385984 was collected in the first quarter.

Billboards and advertisements improved in the second quarter to Ksh 197,105,437 while Ksh 118,573,758 was collected in the first quarter; as House and stall rents also improved from Ksh 111,107,698 to Ksh 183,036,552.

City Hall collected Ksh 89800 from fire inspection certificates in the first quarter of FY2024/25 while in the second quarter, it collected Ksh 620,000.

Food handler’s certificates recorded a drop from Ksh 22,945,001 in the first quarter to Ksh 18,576,000 in the second quarter while Markets recorded an improvement from Ksh 45,981,222 to Sh61,694,835 in the second quarter.

The hospitals in the county recorded an improvement from Ksh 375,513,305 in the first quarter to Ksh 511,086,262in the second quarter while the Nairobi Funeral recorded a drop from Ksh 76,489,325 for the first quarter to Ksh 73,105,351 in the second quarter as other incomes improved from Ksh 115,212,572 in the first quarter to Ksh 119,152,788 in the second quarter.

According to the chief officer of revenue, Tirus Njoroge, the big drop in land rates is the result of a change in internal policies on issuing waivers.

Njoroge says the county administration is enforcing the accrued pending bills for land rates with clamp down of properties being an option as they plan to auction the notorious landlords who have failed to pay for a long period.

“While waivers on land rates have been issued in previous financial years, the result is often reducing compliance within the legally stipulated period of January – March. We are now enforcing those penalties accrued in various ways including an operation to clamp down on properties that have not paid rates and auction those that have been notorious and failed to pay rates over a long period,” Njoroge stated.

In the bid to promote Ease of doing business in the city, Sakaja introduced a Single Business Permit which includes premise-based fire inspection, pest control, food hygiene, and premise-based small format advertisements under the Unified Business Permit.

“We have prepared and are publishing the consolidated fees cutting across all revenue charges and Finance Acts to promote awareness of our charges. This is part of the governor’s strategy of eliminating revenue leakages by ensuring a well-informed citizenry,” he said.

“We have digitized all revenue streams and are continuing to encourage Nairobians to pay for services from the comfort of their homes,” he added.

In 2025, the Sakaja-led administration has increased the devolution of service centres with one in Dandora, another in Ruai, and one in Umoja 1 Embakasi West.

In the last financial year that ended on June 30, 2024, Nairobi County marked a milestone as its source revenue hit Sh12. 8 billion.

However, it was against a target of Sh20.06 billion, which was part of the Sh40.7 billion county budget.

In the FY 2024-2025, the county targets a collection of Sh21.06 billion as its own source revenue against a budget of Sh43.56.