Kenya's mega projects fail to take off

Geza Ulole · 2017-12-04T07:49:32+00:00

Kenya's ruling Jubilee in dilemma on mega projects SATURDAY DECEMBER 2 2017 Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru shows President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) the plan for Thiba Dam. PHOTO | NMG In Summary From the heavily infrastructure-hinged 2013 manifesto, the Kenyatta administration’s record has been a story of hits and misses,. The EastAfrican "In the past three years, we have embarked on building an entirely new world-class railway system, and thousands of kilometres of access roads to connect producers to markets,” said President Kenyatta at his inauguration on Monday. He committed to invest heavily on affordable housing, re-engineering the agriculture sector. But he did not make any pledges touching on the mega infrastructure projects in key sectors such energy and transport which characterised his first term. The President only promised to “fulfil the Jubilee development agenda.” From the heavily infrastructure-hinged 2013 manifesto, the Kenyatta administration’s record has been a story of hits and misses, but the the commissioning of the $327 billion, 480km Nairobi-Mombasa standard gauge railway (SGR) in May this year remains the regime’s biggest achievement. The 120km Nairobi-Naivasha phase of the project is under way while discussions on the financing for the phase 2B to Nakuru 2C to Kisumu are ongoing. But critics argue that the cost of the project has been largely inflated citing similar projects undertaken by neighbours, including Ethiopia. Only 7,000 kilometres of road were constructed between 2013 and 2017, against Mr Kenyatta’s promise of 13,000 kilometres. The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport expansion project is yet to take off due to numerous delays blamed on lack of funding, while the planned construction of the greenfield terminal, which the President launched in 2013, was shelved last year. The Lamu Port South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) project launched in March 2012, is on course despite concerns that of partners Uganda and Ethiopia may have pulled out. According to the Lapsset Corridor Development Authority, construction of the first three berths of the Lamu port is ongoing, while preliminary facilities at both the Manda and Isiolo airports have been completed. On Wednesday, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the construction of the 530km Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo Highway — the first road section of the project — is set to start mid next year after the government signed a $620 million financing deal with South African firm, Group Five Construction Proprietary. The section is being financed by the African Development Bank. The Lamu-Isiolo stretch is part of the part of the 2,000km Lapsset corridor which the Mr Macharia said would take about four years. The $70 million, 1.7 million-acre Galana-Kulalu food security project, which was touted to solve Kenya’s food shortage, has failed to deliver, with only 1 per cent of the project in operation, nearly five years since the government began pumping in money. A week before he was sworn in, President Kenyatta was at the groundbreaking of the $200 million Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga County in central Kenya, which is expected to double the country’s rice output. In ICT, the government distributed 1 million tablets to learners in public schools as part of the Digital Learning Programme after abandoning the initial laptops project. The government is yet to open doors to investors for the construction at the $12 billion Konza Techno City project nearly five years since the project was launched by President Mwai Kibaki. Moi Sports Centre Kasarani in Nairobi will remain Kenya’s only stadium that meets international standards, after the government failed to deliver on its promise to construct five new modern stadia in major cities and towns by 2017.

Thread starter Geza Ulole
Start date Dec 4, 2017

Geza Ulole

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Kenya's mega projects fail to take off

Geza Ulole

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