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Private firms to run county aggregation and industrial parks
Ongoing construction of the Busia County Aggregation and Industrial Park (CAIP) in Nasewa on March 28, 2024. The CAIPS aim to help Kenya reverse its reliance on imports, shifting from 80 percent imported consumption to greater local production.
Counties will contract private entities to manage aggregation hubs, the government has said in a new disclosure on how one of President William Ruto’s pet projects will be run.
Industry Principal Secretary Juma Mukhwana said the national government and counties have resolved to hand the county aggregation and industrial parks (CAIPS) to private entities, just as the first lot of the projects is due for completion next month.
“We have already agreed with counties that CAIPS will be managed by a private person on behalf of the county. Counties will contract those to handle management of the CAIPS,” Mr Mukhwana said.
The CAIPS are expected to provide small-scale producers of various products with common production facilities and space for value addition.
National and county governments will jointly fund the establishment of a Sh500 million CAIP in every county. Each CAIP consists of eight sheds of 50 by 20 metres, with some of the sheds equipped with cold chains and other manufacturing equipment.
The government originally planned to have a CAIP established in every county by next month, but funding challenges have seen the target largely missed.
“We are targeting that by end of June, 13 of these will be complete. We are concluding feasibility studies for value chains that can be domiciled in each of the counties,” the PS said.
Five counties in the western region have postponed a regional CAIPs investment conference slated for the end of this month to the first quarter of the next financial year, revealing the unpreparedness to launch the projects amid funding shortfalls that saw the national government slash county budgets by 56 percent this fiscal year.
Kakamega, Busia, Bungoma, Vihiga and Trans Nzoia counties had planned to hold the investment conference between May 21 and 23 but following a meeting between them and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on Monday, they brought it forward as they disclosed, they were unprepared.
“This will give us time to properly profile the top three value chains and when the investors come, we can actually have the commercial viability of those value chains,” said Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa.
The CAIPS are expected to help Kenya turn around a situation where the country imports 80 percent of its consumption and produces just 20 percent.
The national government also says it is also drafting guidelines for the operationalisation of the CAIPS.
“The value of all this investment is to the extent that we are able to attract value addition and other industries that can come into these facilities where the government has put in Sh500 million,” said Industry Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui.
Kenya Development Corporation chief executive Norah Ratemo noted that the western region CAIPS conference would help showcase the counties’ investment potential.
“The central region has had an overflow of investments from Nairobi. We need to start pushing these investments towards the western region,” she said.
