Joseph Bonyo
31 August 2007
Nairobi — Athi River town will host Kenya's first ever ICT hub, according to plans by the Government, an idea bolstered by the increasing numbers of foreign companies that want to set up shop here. Two international firms from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have already expressed interest in setting up the hubs in partnership with the government.
"An MoU is in place at the Attorney General's Office. He will advise us further on how to proceed with the plans legally," said Information and Communication Permanent secretary, Bitange Ndemo.
Proposals on cost and other documents, have been sent by the Kenyan government to the companies for their assessment and approval. Once approved, two multimedia firms, Agility of Kuwait and a consortium of companies from the United Arab Emirates will work with the Government to build create the hub at a cost of Sh70 billion.
Addressing an ICT workshop organised by the AccessKenya Group for government officials at a Nairobi hotel, Dr Ndemo said that the platform would greatly improve efficiency in the Government sector as well as cut down on the costs of operations.
In achieving this, the Government has also identified four key areas that will help the ICT industry develop in tune with Vision 2030. "The areas are meant to fast track the development of ICT in the country, and create an enabling environment to participants in the industry," said Dr. Ndemo. They include tax incentives that will see a reduction of the income tax levied on expatriates and key employees, corporate tax holidays and VAT exemption on locally purchased inputs for the sector.
The Government will also speed up laying of the national fibre-optic backbone and the undersea fibre-optic cable network. In addition, the current energy grid of 1000 mega watts will be increased to 3000 MW in a few years.
Costs of bandwidth available to public universities will be subsidised, while specific training on ICT will be available at the Government-owned Kenya College of Communications Technology (KCCT) in Mbagathi, Nairobi.
Public primary schools will also get aid to buy computers.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
