• Ruto said the special economic zones will give a reason for more foreign investments to be established in Kenya.
• He added that all locally manufactured products will be given a priority both in the government and in the public sectors.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto has announced that the government is adding five more special economic zones in Kenya.
Speaking at EPZ Athi River on Friday, Ruto said the special economic zones will give a reason for more foreign investments to be established in Kenya.
"We are establishing these special economic zones across Kenya. We are going to have another five special economic zones in Sagana, Thika, Nakuru, Eldoret and Busia as a first phase," Ruto said.
The President stated that the government will provide incentives for investment in these special economic spaces.
"It is our expectation that companies will find the reason for them to work with private sector companies from elsewhere globally, to establish their operations, manufacturing and capabilities in Kenya," Ruto said.
Additionally, the President said that all locally manufactured products will be given a priority both in the government and in the public sectors.
"All the products that we manufacture in Kenya will be given the priority in procurement of all government pharmaceutical requirements,” Ruto said.
"Progressively, we are going to make it the responsibility of all other actors both public and private to make sure that we prioritise the purchase of locally manufactured products including pharmaceuticals,” he added.
President Ruto also pledged to allocate land to the Athi River Special Economic Zone to boost its operations.
He said that the additional land would lead to the creation of employment for many youths.
On Thursday, Konza Technopolis announced a partnership with the Special Economic Zones Authority to review the developments at Konza.
This marked a significant milestone in advancing the operationalisation of Konza Technopolis as a SEZ, further bolstering Kenya’s ambition to become a globally competitive knowledge-based economy.
The partnership followed the recent gazetting of Two Rivers as a private, services-focused special economic zone (SEZ) and the launch of the Mombasa SEZ early this year.
A SEZ is a designated and declared area, gazetted for the purpose of undertaking SEZ activities while enjoying special economic regulations that differ from general trade, tax and investment rules.
The zones can either be public or private. A public SEZ is a zone developed and managed by the government while a private SEZ is a zone developed by a private developer(s)
These zones are regulated by the Special Economic Zones Authority that issues three main SEZ licenses namely the Developer license, Operator license and the Enterprise license.