East Africa Economic Report

LET ME GLOAT for a change. Ten (10) months ago on this blog among other forums, I predicted that Kenyan Defense forces will annihilate Al Shabaab. Mine was not nationalistic shenanigans.  It was the  result of a realistic assessment of the professionalism of the Kenyan Defense forces  and their hardware compared to Al shabaab, I also looked at the military strategy and was convinced Al Shabaab stood no chance because they were herded to ward Kismayu. No other army would have survived such a strategy: The Air force controlled the air, the Navy controlled the sea and the Army controlled the land. How would an army so isolated survive any assault  from the sea, air and ground?  They were sitting ducks.  I invite you to read  original copy. By defeating Al shabaab, The KDF, we hope has silenced critics both within the country and without. Most felt the KDF was a career Military force. Now they will think otherwise.  Please Go to http://eaers....

Konza CBD to build build on a long term lease KENYA'S INFRASTRUCTURE development paradigm has completely shifted.  Public Service provision has been unbundled enabling the private-public sector partnerships. For instance, services in the electricity supply have been unbundled into; power generation, distribution and Transmission functions, each managed separately. And as a result of unbundling of services, the private sector can now be contracted to provide certain public sector services. These contracts are determined according to the financial risk, urgency in service delivery, economic impact and revenue risk. In Kenya, like anywhere else in Africa and indeed the world, demand for infrastructure is growing faster than the public sectors ability to deliver. Lack of infrastructure has thus become a major bottleneck to economic growth. Therefore the private sector is increasingly being invited to provide public services or goods for a fee. Generally the contract...

The Thika Superhighway:Lined  up for concessioning THE THIKA SUPERHIGHWAY  is now complete and has been handed over to the Kenyan government. Consequently, the road will be commissioned by the President in November this year. And now the US$300 million road is now lined- up for management concessioning. Sources indicate that the concession is expected to be signed next year and the concessionaire is expected to be operational by 2014. Already a number of bids are said to be in place. It is not clear whether the government of Kenya is playing for time waiting for more bids. It should, say analysts, the more the merrier; meaning that competition among bidders will give the government a good deal.  The concessionaire will be expected to raise the funds needed to repay the US$300 million used to build the road, maintain it and earn a profit for the concessionaire and perhaps a little concession fees for the government. The concession is being applauded as a sma...

Thika Superhighway at Globe  Cinema Roundabout Nairobi A COMBINATION OF clever financial models, a deliberate shift to the East, political resolve, and economic turn -around has boosted the rate of success of infrastructure projects in Kenya. Some projects were initially deemed white elephants and others that sounded like pipe dreams. However, the uptake that has turned them into reality, has confounded friend and foe alike. Consistent economic growth has contributed to, and driven the growth momentum in the country as growth puts more money in the pockets, creating more tax-payers. This has enabled Kenya to finance 93 per cent of its budget thus improving service delivery especially in the public sector. It has also had investors eyeing east Africa sit up. The government also mooted infrastructure bonds that were used to borrow long-term from the public to supplement taxes. The money was used to finance Infrastructure development including roads, water, irrigation sys...

Proposed Konza Technocity: Attracting serious investors THE GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY  for Kenya’s Konza Techno City will be held in October this year, we can report.  This will pave the way for construction work on the US$7 billion project to begin. It is expected that, after the ground breaking ceremony, work on roads, water and waste water disposal systems will be the first off the blocks. Already a Chinese government owned Construction Company, Shanghai Corporation for Foreign Economic & Technological Cooperation (SFECO) is eyeing construction of roads and other social infrastructure.   The government is constructing a US$200 million multipurpose water dam expected to be complete by October 2013. The dam will pump one million litres of water to the city. The proposed city has generated a lot of interest among both investors and developers a like hastening the pace of implementation. Reports have it that some 200 investors are eyeing space in...