Textile maker Rivatex is seeking Exports Processing Zones Authority approval as part of a plan to get a share of the foreign market.
Rivatex chief executive officer Thomas Kipkurgat said textile imports cost Kenya Sh20 billion annually. Through the EPZA, Rivatex will spend the money locally.
Kipkurgat said they will increase sales and make higher profits through EPZA, enabling the company to strengthen and expand its operations.
“What we are doing now is working with the Ministry of Trade so that we join the EPZA and grow stronger,” Kipkurgat said.
The government's modernisation of the firm is 92 per cent complete, but Kipkurgat said they have some more machines to install to finalise the expansion programme.
The firm expects extra funding of Sh500 million from the state for the project.
Jared Ichwara, a director of planning at the Industrialisation department, visited the firm last week. He said the first phase of funding worth more than Sh5 billion had been used to revive Rivatex and instal new machinery.
Ichwara said the company has created more than 3,000 direct jobs and the expansion will boost its performance.
The official was part of a monitoring and evaluation team from the Vision 2030 Delivery secretariat. The team was led by Kenya Vision 2030 director general Ken Muige.
“We now have more than 30,000 people who come to Rivatex to buy fabrics for use out there,” Ichwara said.
He said more than 4,000 farmers were also being supported to plant cotton. The farmers have been given seeds and pesticides among other incentives.
Muige said since 2008, the Vision 2030 initiative had contributed about 9.2 per cent growth to the manufacturing sector by last year.
Kipkurgat said the firm is processing more than 30,000 metres of fabric per day compared to about 10,000 metres a few years ago.
“We are very excited with the progress we have made with support from the president and the entire government,” Kipkurgat said.
Muige said the Vision 2030 will be achieved through enhanced manufacturing, employment creating and vocational education and training.
He said the revival of Rivatex would also help revive cotton farming which had collapsed in the country.
“We want to save the more than Sh20 billion that we use import material for textile because one of the ways to grow our country is to stop sending money out there. We can produce the raw material we require locally,” Muige said.
He urged Kenyans to buy locally manufactured products from Rivatex and other local companies.
“We have to take pride in what is ours even if it’s not perfect. What we are doing is a good start as a country as we move to expand the manufacturing sector,” he said.
(edited by o. owino)
