Kirinyaga County’s Sagana Industrial Park is nearing commissioning after a multi-agency of national government officials gave the project a positive assessment during a visit to verify its progress and identify remaining gaps.
The assessment comes days after the government directed that County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) that have achieved more than 90 per cent completion be fast-tracked for operationalization.
While leading a multi-agency delegation at the park, Kinguru Wahome from the State Department for Trade said the multi-agency team that was deployed by the Principal Secretary to Kirinyaga to assess the level of implementation of CAIP in Sagana is impressed by the progress.
“The last time you were here, about seven months ago, the level of achievement of this CAIP was around 82 percent, and today the indicative number is around 94 percent.” Wahome said.
He noted Kirinyaga is among the top eight counties so far in the implementation of the CAIP that has been achieved in our assessment 90 per cent that are subject to commissioning by the president on a date that is yet to be set.
“The reason why we are here is to confirm that what has been indicated is already done, and I have said we are impressed,” he added.
However, he noted a number of challenges, most of which were not part of what had been put in the quotation, including electricity connection; we need a substation and water treatment and a small section of the road, which is not all weather.
The Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) of Kirinyaga West Sub-county, John Mbugua, said the project is a testament to what and how much can be achieved when people work together as a team.
Mbugua said the remaining bits hopefully will be fast track and to be able to bring it to completion for residents to realize the dream of CAIP, noting the project assisted in creating employment for young people.
“We have had both skilled and unskilled young people employed here, and upon completion and operationalization, we are expecting that a great number of our young people will be employed here to be able to earn their living.” Mbugua said
Kirinyaga County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Trade, Calbert Njeru, said the visit was a critical step towards completing the industrial park, which is one of Governor Anne Waiguru’s flagship projects and a key pillar of the county’s industrialization agenda.
The vision was to create an industrial base that promotes value addition, creates jobs, provides markets for farmers, and reduces post-harvest losses.
The CECM noted that the assessment would lead to proper addressing of the outstanding infrastructure, including electricity, water, all-weather roads, and a bridge.
“We hope the national government will help us with infrastructure like roads and the bridge so that we can fast-track the remaining works, operationalize the park, and have it commissioned,” he said.
The team comprised officials from the State Departments of Industries, Roads, Public Works, Water, Energy, Environment, ICT, and Finance, among other agencies.
The assessment coincided with a benchmarking visit by Nyeri County’s Department of Trade and Industries, which came to learn from Kirinyaga’s experience in implementing the CAIP programme.
Nyeri CECM for Trade Lucy Kiogura said the county was about 50 per cent into its own CAIP and wanted practical lessons from Sagana, which began earlier.
“We came to Kirinyaga to benchmark on CAIPs and to learn so that it can make our work easier, and we are glad we now know what we require as a county for successful implementation of our project,” Kiogura said.
She said the delegation was particularly interested in cold rooms, power supply, and roofing structures, adding that the visit had given Nyeri a clearer picture of what was required.
By Mutai Kipng’etich
