• Five countries have been allocated land for cargo
• A Turkish company has taken over 400 acres
Image: George Murage
Operations at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mai Mahiu, Naivasha could be grounded in the coming days after the National Treasury slashed to zero its budgetary allocation.
According to the Parliamentary Committee on Trade and Investment, the move to cut the development funds spells doom for the busy facility that has continued to attract local and international investors.
The industrial park required over Sh10 billion to finish ongoing works but this was reviewed to Sh1.5 billion before it was wholly slashed after the President rejected the Finance Bill 2024-25.
The move comes a couple of days after the government announced that 11 companies had received land on the park while another eight investors were on the waiting list.
The committee's chairman James Gakuya said the move to slash the development funds spelt doom for the multi-billion facility that has continued to attract investors.
Speaking at the facility, Gakuya said that this would affect ongoing works adding that the committee will engage the President on the issue.
“We shall engage the government in order to allocate more funds to help address basic infrastructure at the SEZ including water system, electricity and linking roads,” he said.
He added that the allocation to Economic Processing Zones (EPZ) for flagship projects had also been reduced from Sh1.8 billion to Sh1.2 billion affecting planned works.
The Embakasi North MP said the EPZ and SEZ as very critical in job creation, wealth creation and economic growth.
“We laud the move by the government to offer cheap electricity to the investors as this will increase the number of companies leading to more jobs,” he said.
An investor Mungai Kihuyu from Crystal Foods Company said that they were in the process of constructing a potato processing plant in the park.
“We shall source our potatoes locally and this will address the elusive issue of a ready market which has adversely affected many farmers in the country,” he said.
According to Special Economic Zone Authority CEO Kenneth Chelule, the body has been reviewing bids from investors of Sh2 billion every day thanks to attractive incentives.
He said that a group of investors from Malaysia, China and Europe had shown interest in the industrial park that was about to fill up.
"The government has allocated an additional 5,000 acres that will help accommodate incoming investors that will invest in various sectors," said Dr. Chelule.