NSSF targets high impact strategic investments

PHOTO | FILE Acting NSSF managing trustee Tom Odongo.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By John Oyuke

National Social Security Fund ( NSSF) plans to engage in more strategic investments to guarantee high returns for its corporate transformation.

NSSF Board of Trustees Chairman, Adan Mohamed, says the fund is gearing up for to be a key player in the local Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) project financing scene, in line with its membership growth, which is projected to hit the 4.2 million-mark in the next two years.

Speaking during a ceremony to celebrate NSSF’s recent ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certification by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), Mohamed explained that the fund will focus on high impact investments that guarantee a high return in the energy, and infrastructural development. This, he said, is part of the fund’s policy to diversify its investments beyond the equities and property development portfolio.

Ahead of the fund’s ISO certification, Mohamed confirmed that NSSF had activated a new Sh300 million SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution to facilitate efficient, real time service delivery across its core business functions.

 “At NSSF, we have made a deliberate policy decision to invest in infrastructural projects with a high impact and guarantee high value returns on our investments as well as boosting social development,” Mohamed said.

Within the broad energy development sector, Mohamed said NSSF would seek to invest in energy production and transmission.

NSSF, he said had expressed an interest to fund high impact projects such as the construction of a tunnel or suspended bridge along the Likoni Channel or Kenya’s second superhighway.

Mohamed singled out the fund’s proposed Hazina Village Development within Mavoko Municipality as one of NSSF’s proposed high impact projects to be developed at the fund’s 1,000 acre property in Mavoko, Machakos County.

The project valued at $1billion will feature a City within a City model incorporating more than 30,000 housing units and allied amenities including a light rail network.

“The necessary project designs and evaluations have been undertaken and we expect to conduct the ground breaking ceremony for the Mavoko project before the end of the year,” Mohamed explained.

 “ NSSF is firmly positioned on a transformation path and the ISO certification confirms our corporate adherence to global quality management standards.’’