Government seeks proposals from Industrial Parks developers

The government has begun a rigorous process of seeking proposals from interested developers to manage and run the ambitious county aggregation industrial parks (CAIPs).

The creation of industrial parks is touted as transformational as selected counties, including Garissa, located in the northern frontier region are set to benefit.

Speaking during a consultative forum that brought together top government officials, Trade and Investments Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano noted remarkable progress since the recent disbursement of Sh1.25 billion meant to help develop the parks in all the counties.

"The development and implementation of CAIPs is jointly implemented between the National Government and the County Government on a 50/50 per cent basis. The County Governments Additional Allocation Act 2023 has facilitated the recent disbursement of Sh1,125 billion from the National Treasury to the 18 Phase I Counties. Each County received Sh62.5 million as tranche one to fast-track the implementation process," said Miano.

Miano said her team had already developed proposals on Expression of Interest in several areas, to fast-track the process.

Trade and Investments Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano at the Council of Governors offices in Nairobi on Wednesday. Photo by MITI Press

Some of the areas include management of the parks, and equipping CAIPS to promote value addition of local agriculture and industrial resources.

Construction of additional industrial warehouses and supportive infrastructure within the CAIPs in various counties for leasing or use in manufacturing activities, industrial investment in aggregation, value addition, and manufacturing in CAIPS for the identified value chains; and industrial investment in branding, packaging (design), labelling and logistics in CAIPs for the identified value chains are other areas which the ministry has urged Kenyans to express their interest.

At the same time, Miano observed that despite the government disbursing money last month some counties were still below five per cent as far as construction is concerned.

"In view of the above observation, we have initiated a further discussion with the Counties below 5 per cent of implementation to encourage them and see how best they can resolve the issues affecting their progress," she said.

According to Miano, counties below 5 per cent include Garissa, Muranga, Kiambu, Mombasa, and Nakuru. Embu and Uasin Gishu are above 25 per cent.

Busia, Bungoma, Kirinyaga, Meru, Machakos, Homa Bay, Migori, Nyamira, Siaya, Trans Nzoia, and Nandi are between 10-25 per cent.

The CS affirmed that the manufacturing sector plays a key role in economic development, employment creation, and the creation of new value-added products that bring foreign exchange to any given economy.

She further noted that the manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP has stagnated at about seven per cent over a couple of years, and despite Kenya being an agricultural-led economy, the export value added of agricultural and livestock products has stagnated at around 16 per cent.

She stated that CAIPs will not only drive manufacturing sector growth through agro-processing industries, but will also create job opportunities for youth, strengthen forward and backward linkages between the manufacturing and agriculture sectors, allowing them to reach their full potential, increase the volume of value-added products, resulting in higher income for our farmers, and increase foreign exchange while addressing post-harvest losses.

CAIPs serve as a model for integrated industrial development, providing infrastructure services and a business environment aimed at attracting investors and growth of local industries through the transformation of Agriculture and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) as outlined in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).