The government will soon create a National Infrastructure Fund that will help raise funds for massive infrastructure projects aimed at taking Kenya to the league of developed countries, President William Ruto has announced.
He explained that the fund will help the government generate reliable energy to power manufacturing and industries, dams to guarantee food security and irrigation, and expand our road network to improve national and regional connectivity.
“Putting together resources from our budget, building resources from the private sector, and resources from the privatisation, we will create a big pool of resources that we can use in an innovative manner just as other countries have done,” he said.
Ruto made the remarks when he commissioned the completed Phase One Horizontal Infrastructure of the Konza Technopolis in Makueni County on Monday.
He explained that the country will require over Sh1 trillion to expand power capacity by an extra 10,000MW from the current 2,300MW between the next five and seven years to support growing industrialisation.
Additionally, he said, Sh1.5 trillion will be required to build 50 mega dams across the country to make Kenya food secure and put over two million acres under irrigation.
“We have stabilised our food security, but that is not enough. We need to stop importing food, which is costing us Sh500 billion annually,” he said.
On road infrastructure, President Ruto said another Sh1.5 trillion will be required to build 1,000km of dual carriageway, 10,000km of tarmac roads across the country, extend the Standard Gauge Railyway to neighbouring countries, and modernise the dilapidated Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
He urged Kenyans to take lessons from other countries that had to make bold but necessary decisions to take their economies to the next level.
“Kenya and South Korea had the same GDP when Kenya became independent in 1963. But today, South Korea’s GDP is 20 times bigger than Kenya’s,” he said.
Present at the function were Cabinet Secretaries William Kabogo (ICT) and Alice Wahome (Lands and Housing), Governors Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni), Joseph ole Lenku (Kajiado), Wisley Rotich (Elgeyo Marakwet), and ICT Principal Secretary John Tanui.
Others were South Korea Ambassor to Kenya Kang Hyung-shik, and Italian Deputy Ambassador Lorenza Maria Gambacorta.
Ruto thanked the United States, Italy, China, South Korea, and other development partners for working with Kenya to make Konza Technopolis a reality.
The city is an investors paradise, served by modern technology, such as a waste water reclamation plant which recycles 90 per cent of used water, and an Artificial Intelligence-driven intelligent operations centre, making it Kenya’s smartest city.
As the city’s development enters a new phase, the President said the government will enhance its connectivity and industrial capacity by dualing the Machakos Junction-Emali road section of the Mombasa highway.
Further, it will facilitate water reticulation through the Northern Collector Tunnel and Nolturesh pipeline integrate the smart city with the Standard Gauge Railway to connect Konza to Mombasa Port and establish a vaccine production facility to advance Kenya’s biomedical capacity.
Ruto reaffirmed the government’s full commitment to complete and operationalise Konza Technopolis.
“We will continue to mobilise resources, attract investors, and strengthen partnerships to make Konza Africa’s smartest city and the beating heart of the Silicon Savannah,” he said.
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