Kisumu County Governor Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Once bustling centre in the era of the first East African
Community between 1967 and 1977, Kisumu City is slowly rising again in
terms of road infrastructure and private investment.
But
the city, which aspires on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria to become
the nerve centre of the Lake Region Economic Bloc, will need more than
plans.
Since the advent of devolution in 2013, Kisumu County has been working to attract investments.
One
industry that appears to have heeded this call is hospitality, what
with the modern new hotels and lake resorts that have been constructed
in the past few years.
The road infrastructure has
improved, with the construction of the new Nyamasaria-Kondele flyover on
the busy Kisumu-Kakamega Road.
“Now that we have an
international airport, we are lobbying for the building of a convention
centre so that so that EAC countries can hold some of their meetings in
Kisumu,” said Dr Evans Atera, managing director of the Lake Basin
Development Authority.
While frequent power outages
still remain a challenge, water resources have been developed, resulting
in improved supply for consumption and industry.
The county, with over 150,000 unemployed youth, is looking for more investment in industry to create employment.
The
manufacturing sector is yet to pick up, with locals currently focusing
on the revamped East Africa Breweries Ltd plant in Kisumu that is
supposed to provide about 100,000 direct jobs.
The
brewery — which has started producing keg beer on a small scale —
targets sorghum farmers in Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, and as far afield as
Nyeri, Machakos and Tharaka Nithi Counties.
Kisumu
County Governor Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o said: “We have already
started an ambitious dairy project with the intensive the County
government providing cooling plants and veterinary services. The outcome
of these initiatives will be seen within the next five years.”
Prof
Nyong’o added that the County is also creating jobs for the youth
through Kisumu Roads Maintenance Teams and creating a Centre for
Business Incubation and Innovation aimed to develop entrepreneurial
skills among the youth.
But the blue economy, through
the utilization of the Lake Victoria resources, that is currently
preoccupying the governor and his team.
Kisumu Governor Prof Nyong'o spoke to Fred Oluoch about plans to grow Lake Basin economy.
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What is your vision for Kisumu as the hub for the Lake Basin Economy?
Kisumu
is critically situated at the top of the Nyanza Gulf on Lake Victoria
where it has historically played a central role as a leading port.
This role diminished when the East African Community collapsed in 1977 but is currently being revived.
It
is important to note that the Kenya Pipeline Company and Kenya Ports
Authority have both set up operations on the lake, enhancing Kisumu's
role as a leading port for maritime transport of petroleum products to
neighbouring countries and the hinterland.
With the
envisaged arrival of the Standard gauge railway in the next two years,
and growing commercial use of Kisumu airport, there is no doubt Kisumu
is poised to become the node of the economic development of the lake
region.
How do you plan to make this vision a reality?
Our
current plan and goal is to enable Kisumu to grow as the centre of the
region’s Blue Economy, ensuring a business friendly environment
guaranteed by good governance and a working infrastructure.
That
is why we started modestly by cleaning up the city, opening drainage,
installing street lights and improving revenue collection to finance our
development agenda.
We are currently undertaking
spatial planning of the city, determining the zoning of the city in line
with appropriate investments that are environmentally friendly.
How
are you engaging the business community in Kisumu and beyond to take
advantage of the plans to revive the port and the expected arrival of
the SGR?
I recently held a round table with
the business community and discussed a wide range of issues, including
how the SGR, the port, the KPC jetty and the airport will impact on the
region's economy and the extent of preparedness of the county to profit
from the forward and backward linkages.
All this is a
work in progress. We are, however, determined to implement our
lake-front project of making the city face the lake rather than turn its
back to the lake.
We are working with several partners
including UN Habitat to build a promenade on the lake front that will
enable the hospitality industry in Kisumu to flourish and create wealth
as well as jobs.
Apart from getting involved in marine
transport by partnering with the private sector to manufacture fibre
glass boats for use by fishermen, given the current danger of using soft
wood in boat-making, we are encouraging investments in water games,
cruises and marine parks in the lake.
The Blue Economy
Investment Conference organised by the Lake Region Economic Bloc in
Bomet from October 22 to 24 showcased some of the initiatives we are
encouraging around the Lake.
How is your government coping with demand for land for real estate, factories and new commercial centres?
We
have encouraged the development of real estate. A good example is
Victoria Gardens, which offers you first-class town houses at very
reasonable prices.
However, one of the biggest problems
we have is availability of public land. Previous municipal and county
governments, with the complicity of the national government, went on
pubic land grabbing sprees.
The new Kisumu County
administration has established a land task force, which has unearthed
horrendous things, with some former public officials who are still
around showing up in these reports as major culprits. We intend to
repossess this illegally acquired public land with the help of the
national government.
We are also engaged in building a land bank. We are buying land from the private sector and keeping it ready for investments.
In our urban renewal programme, we are partnering with the private sector to build affordable housing.
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