Kenya: Kakamega Plan to Lift Up Contractors
The Kakamega government will assist contractors who do not have funds to get money from banks to fulfil their contract agreement.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya asked contractors who have financial difficulties to write officially to the county government requesting for support.
"The county government will write letters of undertaking to banks so that they can finance the contractors as a way of capacity building for the local contractors," he said.
Oparanya said it would be unfair for local contractors to be locked out of county jobs because of lack of adequate funds.
He was speaking in his chambers during a quarterly meeting between contractors and the county government on Tuesday afternoon.
Oparanya said the second phase of road tenders will be awarded this week.
He said contractors who won tenders in the first phase will not be awarded new ones in the second phase.
India As Trading Partner Is Largest Exporter To Kenya
India is the largest importer and exporter through the Port of Mombasa.
In welcoming Indian High Commissioner to Kenya H.E Yogeshwar Varma on his official visit to Mombasa, KPA chairman Danson Mungatana observed:
"In 2013 Kenya Export to India through the Port of Mombasa stood at 304,000 tonnes while imports from India stood at 4.1 million tonnes.
"The statistics reflects how significant India is to the Port of Mombasa although the trade balance is not in Kenya’s favour.
"This is a wakeup call to Kenyan manufacturers to explore and export more to this second largest most populace nation in the world."
The Indian High Commissioner to Kenya was accompanied by his Deputy Sushil Singhal and Defense Adviser Caption (NI) Nitin Kapoor.
India and Kenya have been experiencing growing trade and commercial ties over the years.
Muyang looks to set up animal feed plant in Kenya
Chinese feed machinery company, Muyang, has expressed interest in partnering with the Bungoma County government in Kenya, in the building of an animal feed processing company in region. Muyang Company, based in Yangzhou China, intends to set up the feed plant in the area at a cost of KES 165 million (USD$1.9 million), which will make use of sugarcane and maize waste products that are abundant in the region, if they are able to strike a deal with the county government. If the feed plant gets of the ground, its is expected to created an estimated 2000 jobs in the region, according to Bencher Yi, Muyang's Deputy President. Muyang intends to provide the feed machinery to set up the animal feed mill, along with provideing technical support, training and guaranteeing 2 years of maintenance for all machinery. The company has been set up in Africa since 2008 and has extensive operations in Africa, with similar companies in Tanzania, South Africa and Mozambique.
Industries To Benefit From Dedicated Power Lines In Kenya
Kenya has promised the top 200 industrial power consumers dedicated direct lines to alleviate frequent power outages, which has led to losses in millions of dollars for manufacturers in the East African country.
“We want to give you better base load power – power which is available at all times,” said Davis Chirchir, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum at an investors’ forum organized by Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and sponsored by Kenya Power Ltd.
Chirchir noted that the country’s expensive power was running industries aground.
He therefore promised more reliable and cheaper power, with Geothermal power expected to add 100MW to the national grid at the end of 2015. It is part of the planned 5,000 MW projected to be generated from geothermal sources.
“Manufacturing has been contributing to GDP growth at around 13 percent but in recent times this has gone down to 8.9 percent and the absence of the expansion in the sector has been constrained by energy,” said Ms. Betty Maina, CEO of the KAM.
