Kenya’s private sector new consortium eyes big tenders

NAIROBI: Kenya’s private sector has formed a consortium in a move to tap into billions of shillings worth of investment opportunities arising from the Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP).

This comes following renewed calls by the private sector to have local companies play a bigger role in the development of mega-projects in the East African region, which are currently dominated almost entirely by Chinese State-owned firms. The Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP) involve key rail, road and port infrastructure seeking to connect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan in a bid to fast-track the region’s economic development.

There are currently 16 mega projects identified under NCIP, top among them the Standard Gauge Railway, Lamu port, South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor (Lapsset), oil refinery and pipeline infrastructure. “To enable the private sector fully participate in the investment opportunities available under NCIP, Kepsa has established an NCIP Consortium,” reads a statement released yesterday by the private sector lobby group.

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“Kepsa and each of the other private sector apex business bodies in the region will coordinate the participation of their respective private sector members in the identified NCIP investment opportunities.” The new consortium by Kepsa is expected to pool private sector human and financial resources to enable local manufacturers and suppliers to compete with Chinese contractors and get a bigger slice of the region’s development.

Data from a recent report by consulting firm Deloitte indicated China accounted for over $20 billion (Sh1.8 trillion) worth of infrastructure development in the East African region in 2014 alone. The Asian dragon currently holds 31 per cent of the region’s $60 billion (Sh5.4 trillion) infrastructure mega projects, almost doubling the 19 per cent share it held in 2013.