Local contractors could soon be relieved if a Bill seeking to raise the limit for foreign firms bidding for government contracts is approved.
In the new Bill, Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru wants to have section 157(8) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 amended by deleting the word Sh500 million and substituting thereof Sh20 billion.
This would mean that all state projects below Sh20 billion will be reserved for local contractors.
According to Gathiru, the move is aimed at protecting the local contractors who have been given the chop leaving them to scramble for the few available jobs in the ministries and counties.
“The main objective is to raise the threshold that local firms can be granted exclusive access to government tenders not less than Sh20 billion,” Gathiru told the Finance Committee.
“We are going to unlock hundreds of billions of shillings for local firms who would bid for mega projects without competing with foreign firms. This is in line with the Kenya Kwanza agenda to offer more tenders to Kenyan young entrepreneurs.”
Section 8 (a) states that "exclusive preferences shall be given to Kenyans where the funding is 100 per cent from the national government, counties or a Kenyan body...where the amounts are below the prescribed threshold."
Chinese companies are among those that have won the mega infrastructural and industrial works in the country.
Israeli companies have also been awarded road projects in the country.
Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has previously defended the dominance of foreign contractors in the country arguing that externally financed development projects come with conditionality.
“There is a requirement for international competitive bidding thus the contracts in this category are won by foreign firms, particularly if local firms do not participate, or qualify at the procurement stage,” said KeNHa Director-General Kung’u Ndung’u in a past interview with a local media.