Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat will prioritise signing up more public-private partnerships(PPPs) on ticket projects to accelerate their pace of development and completion timelines over the next decade.
The Secretariat reported that Kenya, through its Public Private Partnership Unit and the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) executed Africa’s largest ever PPP through an agreement with the French company Rift Valley Highway, for the development of the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Highway project.
The signing occurred in Paris on September 30th 2020 in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“As National government puts more effort to boost economic recovery through the development of the Post COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Programme (PC-ESP), our focus will be to push for more PPPs to accelerate pace of delivery in flagship projects,” said Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat, Director General, Kenneth Mwige.
The Secretariat said that the significant progress has been made over the years in line with their Medium Term Plans, however, the pace of completion has been hampered partly by new developments beyond their control, including current COVID-19 pandemic that has negatively impacted on economic growth across the world.
Director Mwige noted that ministries, state departments and government agencies have over the 2019/2020 fiscal year experienced budget restrictions due to slow revenue growth compared to 2018 and Climate change effects on Agriculture sector occasioned by drought during first half of the year, followed by high rainfall in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport corridor –LAPPSET, the Konza Techno City, modernisation of aviation facilities, expansion of the port of Mombasa, and the standard gauge railway (SGR) are current on-going flagship projects that will make a significant contribution towards achieving the 10 per cent economic growth target and improve Kenya’s standard of living.
Transport in Nairobi is set to get a major boost with the ongoing construction of the Sh62 billion, 27km Nairobi Expressway, expected to be completed by December 2022.
Similarly, the construction of three berths at Lamu Port, fully financed by the government is on-going with berth one already completed. A total of 32 deep sea berths are expected to be put up at a cost of Sh 500 Billion (USD 5 Billion). The remaining 29 berths will be developed by private sector investors.
The Secretariat said modernisation and expansion of aviation facilities at Jomo Kenyatta, Moi, Kisumu and Isiolo International Airports and selected airstrips across the country is still ongoing and will require PPP arrangements to improve the facilities to required standards.
Latest Data from Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat shows the country’s economy has been growing at an Average of 4.9 per cent despite slowdowns to about 2 per cent on every election cycles.
However, key sectors of Agriculture, Tourism and Manufacturing have recorded notable growths since the launch of the country’s long-term development plan in 2008.
Tourism earnings have grown from Sh 65billion in 2007 to Sh 164billion in 2019 on increased investments in hospitality facilities that has doubled number of available hotel beds per night to current 29.7 million and upto 2 billion international arrivals annually. Start of direct flights to the USA from Kenya by Kenya Airways, completion of KICC MICE facility (60 per cent complete) and Nairobi International Convention Center( 10 per cent complete) will shore up the numbers.
According to Mwige, prospects are still high to reach the 10 per cent target for annual economic growth and transform Kenya into a newly industrialising globally competitive and middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030.
The financial close of the project is expected to occur by the end of 2021 and will cost about €1.3 billion, transforming the existing trunk road into a 175-kilometer dual two-lane motorway. The construction works are scheduled to last 42 months.