On Friday April 26th, 2019, Kenya and China signed project delivery agreements worth 67.5 billion Kenyan Shillings for the Konza Data Centre and Smart Cities Project by telecommunications giant Huawei and the JKIA-James Gichuru expressway.
The Konza project deal is reportedly worth 17.5 billion Kenyan Shillings while the expressway project, by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, is worth another 50 billion Kenyan Shillings.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is in China for the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum, was a witness to the signing of the deals that will be fulfilled through concessional financing and Public Private-Partnership (PPP).
The operation and maintenance service agreement for the Nairobi-Naivasha segment of the standard gauge railway (SGR), was also signed.
The Konza project which was conceived in 2017 by the ICT ministry and Huawei, includes the development of core infrastructure including a National Cloud Data Centre, a Smart ICT Network, a Public Safe City and Smart Traffic Solution, and a Government Cloud and Enterprise Service.
The Kanza Project, is part of the Konza Techno City, a Vision 2030 flagship project started in 2008.
The project (Kanza Techno City) is aimed at developing technology-intensive and high-tech industries in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), biotechnology and e-commerce.
It is estimated that Phase I of the project will create over 17,000 jobs and contribute 90 billion Kenyan Shillings to the Kenyan economy.
The construction of the JKIA-James Gichuru expressway, is expected to ease traffic flow on the busy Mombasa highway as part of government interventions to decongest key roads in the nation’s capital; Nairobi.
It will also be the first of its kind in Africa, and will include features such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) covering the entire stretch, underpasses, overpasses, and of course, exits.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, also attended the opening ceremony of the BRI forum at the China National Convention Centre in central Beijing. There, he addressed a high-level session attended by his host, President Xi Jinping of China.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, thanked China for projects which he said were expanding economic activities and unlocking the potential for prosperity in Kenya and other developing countries.
Kenya’s President, further added that; “Since inception, the Belt and Road Initiative has forged cooperation in the development of critical sectors including expansion of infrastructure, education and capacity building, trade facilitation and investment, agricultural modernisation, industrial promotion and energy connectivity,”.
According to The Star, Kenya’s debt, now stands at 5.04 trillion Kenyan Shillings, which is 56 percent of the total wealth.
China has lent 70 percent at 634.4 billion Kenyan Shillings of the 5.04 trillion Kenyan Shillings external debt composition.
China’s terms of loan arrangement which have been referred to as easier, allegedly do not have the problem of kickbacks, neither do they come with any serious follow-through by the lender on whether the loans given, were used for their intended purposes.
These easier loan terms, have emerged as some of the possibilities why the World Power, has become an attractive option for African nations, to borrow from.
For Kenya, Japan has lent 104.7 billion Kenyan Shillings which is 11.7 percent of Kenya’s external debt, while France is third having lent 62.6 billion Kenyan Shillings; 7 percent.
