Parliament scuttles Kenya’s minerals survey plan

The survey to map Kenya’s mineral resources is expected to cost $70 million and take 30 months to be completed. PHOTO | FILE 

By NJIRAINI MUCHIRA

In Summary

• The National Treasury had directed the Mining Ministry to contract China’s Geological Exploration Technology Institute to carry out the survey owing to the fact that the Chinese government had offered to fund it.
• Ministry of Mining officials have cast doubt on the ability of GETI to carry out the survey
• Kenya Chambers of Mines chief executive officer Moses Njeru said that the country has no option but to source an independent international firm with expertise and technical knowhow to undertake the survey.

Plans by Kenya to carry out a survey to determine the country’s mineral wealth now hangs in the balance as it has emerged that no local company has the capacity to do the job.

Just days after parliamentary Budget and Appropriation Committee reinstated a $28.5 million budget for the survey and ordered that it be done by local geologists, it has now been reported that the country does not have local capacity to undertake the aerial minerals mapping survey.
Initially, the National Treasury had directed the Mining Ministry to contract China’s Geological Exploration Technology Institute (GETI) to carry out the survey owing to the fact that the Chinese government had offered to fund it. The survey is estimated to cost $70 million and can be carried out in a span of 30 months.

“The directive by parliament that the survey be done by the local geologists cannot be implemented because Kenya does not have local capacity,” said Kenya Chambers of Mines chief executive officer Moses Njeru.

He added that although parliament served the interests of the country by reinstating the budget for the survey as opposed to foreign funding, Kenya has no option but to source an independent international firm with expertise and technical knowhow to undertake the survey. According to Eliud Wamwangi, Geological Society of Kenya chairman, no local firm has the ability to carry out the aerial survey because it requires highly-specialised equipment.

“Aerial surveys are done using sophisticated equipment and we do not have the ability to acquire locally. The survey can only be carried out by a foreign firm in partnership with a local company,” he said.

He added that Kenya only has about 1,000 geologists, the majority of whom are in the field of hydrogeology. The National Treasury had last year recalled funds that had been allocated for the survey in the supplementary budget as part of plans to scale down expenditure. But the Budget Committee decided to reinstate the budget and opposed the award of the contract to GETI on the basis that the memorandum of understanding with the firm was signed without due diligence.

The EastAfrican has also established that Ministry of Mining officials have cast doubt on the ability of GETI to carry out the survey after investigations into the firm showed it does not have the relevant expertise.