Kenya lines up raft of mega-projects on the road to middle income status

PHOTO | DIANA NGILA Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and Treasury PS Kamau Thugge on his right. In a Wednesday advertisement, Treasury said it had received approval for 59 projects that the government plans to execute through public/private partnerships.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Treasury principal secretary Kamau Thugge said the public private partnership approach was long-term that could improve the government’s quest to realise a double digit economic growth rate.
• In tourism, a marina will be held at the Coast, a first class hotel at the Bomas of Kenya and conference centres in Mombasa.

By CHARLES WOKABI
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A list of multi-billion infrastructure projects was released Wednesday that will be handed over to the private sector in a bid to make Kenya a middle-income status nation.

 

In a Wednesday advertisement the National Treasury said it had received approval for 59 projects that the government plans to execute through public/private partnerships.

The projects range from telecommunications, agriculture, health, energy, transport, real estate to water and sewerage.

More than a quarter of the projects involve construction of roads, railway, ports and railway lines, highlighting the government’s focus on improving transport to make it easy to do business in the country.

LONG-TERM SOLUTION
This is intended to improve the country’s business environment.

Treasury principal secretary Kamau Thugge said the public private partnership approach was long-term that could improve the government’s quest to realise a double digit economic growth rate.

“Kenya’s public/private partnerships is not as a series of independent projects. The national list of projects published here has been subjected to a series of sustainability checks and has been granted formal clearance by the Cabinet to proceed for development,” Mr Thugge said.

PROJECTS

Projects under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure include construction of major highways, maintenance of the green field terminal at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and development of container terminals at the Port of Mombasa.

Construction, operation and maintenance of a railway line proposed to connect Jomo Kenyatta Airport and Nairobi city centre is also lined up. In energy, the government will work with the private sector to develop up to 4,660 MW of power from geothermal, solar and coal in the next 25 years.

In tourism, a marina will be held at the Coast, a first class hotel at the Bomas of Kenya and conference centres in Mombasa.

Separately, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority invited bids for 40 projects involving the setting up, running and maintenance of roads in different urban centres and municipalities.

Implementation of the plans is expected to yield good fortunes for the local construction sector and result in creation of jobs for thousands of youths.

As part of the government’s plans to help create jobs, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has invited bids for the construction of 60 technical training institutes across the country. This project is fully funded by the government.