President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses delegates during the Chinese-Kenya
Business Forum at Crown Plaza Hotel in Beijing, China, on April 26,
2019. PHOTO | PSCU
Kenya and China on Friday signed project delivery agreements
worth Sh67.5 billion for the Konza Data Centre and Smart Cities Project
by telecommunications giant Huawei and the JKIA-James Gichuru
expressway.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is in China
for the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum, witnessed the
signing of the deals that will be fulfilled through concessional
financing and Public Private-Partnership (PPP).
The
Konza project deal is worth Sh17.5 billion while the expressway project,
by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, is worth Sh50 billion.
Also signed was the operation and maintenance service agreement
for the Nairobi-Naivasha segment of the standard gauge railway (SGR).
Konza City
The
Konza project, conceived in 2017 by the ICT ministry and Huawei,
entails the development of core infrastructure including a National
Cloud Data Centre, a Smart ICT Network, a Public Safe City and Smart
Traffic Solution, and a Government Cloud and Enterprise Service.
It
is part of the Konza Techno City, a Vision 2030 flagship project
started in 2008 and aimed at developing technology-intensive and
high-tech industries in ICT, biotechnology and e-commerce.
It
is estimated that Phase I of the project is estimated will create over
17,000 jobs and contribute Sh90 billion to the Kenyan economy.
The construction of the expressway is expected to ease traffic
flow on the busy Mombasa highway as part of government interventions to
decongest key roads in Nairobi.
It will be the first of
its kind in Africa, with features such as underpasses, overpasses,
exits and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) component covering the entire
stretch.
High-level session
Earlier,
President Kenyatta attended the opening ceremony of the BRI forum at
the China National Convention Centre in central Beijing, where he
addressed a high-level session attended by his host, President Xi
Jinping.
He thanked China for projects which he said
were expanding economic activities and unlocking the potential for
prosperity in Kenya and other developing countries.
“Since
inception, the Belt and Road Initiative has forged cooperation in the
development of critical sectors including expansion of infrastructure,
education and capacity building, trade facilitation and investment,
agricultural modernisation, industrial promotion and energy
connectivity," he said.
EDITOR'S
NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the total value of deals
signed, from the Sh226 billion earlier reported by State House.
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