Brian Adero
12 September 2007
Nairobi — The Government has released details of the 20 flagship projects that will kick off its Vision 2030 development strategy.
The plans cover everything from building three resort cities and supplying cheap fertiliser, to the creating a Dubai-style free trade port and industrial parks for small businesses.
The State also plans to build and fully equip 560 new secondary schools, employ 28,000 teachers and make other changes to the education system to create the workforce for the new economy.
Planning and National Development minister, Mr Henry Obwocha, revealed the list of projects on Tuesday while launching the Sector Working Groups, the teams that will lead planning in the various areas.
Although no figures were provided , President Kibaki in May said the Government would spend some Sh500 billion over the next five years on the 20 key projects.
Speaking at event, Finance minister Mr Amos Kimunya said the working groups would allow development partners, the private sector and other stakeholders to give their input on the plans.
"This enhances transparency in the budget process and facilitates wider ownership of public-funded programmes," he said.
Key areas
Vision 2030 is a six-pillar strategy that is aimed at steering Kenya to ten per cent GDP growth by 2012, and becoming a middle-income country by the year 2030. The six sectors chosen under its "economic pillar" are tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, trade, information technology and financial services.
Apart from investing in these six areas the Government will also spend money on security, infrastructure, public sector reform, people development and land reform.
To spur growth in tourism, the Government plans to build three resort cities. These will be Isiolo and two unidentified coastal towns.
There are plans to limit the number of tourists visiting "premium parks" like Nakuru and Amboseli. Money will also be spent on improving tourist visits to less popular parks as well as to Western Kenya destinations. The Government is aiming for "high end play at four key sites in Western circuit and 1,000 homes stay sites".
To help improve farming, the Government plans to push through new laws on agricultural reform, shake up the land registry, and develop a master-plan on land-use.
Obwocha said the sector will also benefit from a "three-tier fertiliser cost-reduction programme". Farming input prices will be lowered by local blending and manufacturing, as well as improvement in purchasing and the supply chain.
One of the big ideas to grow wholesale and retail trade is the creation of a free trade port to serve the regional market. This, Obwocha says, will effectively "bring Dubai to Kenya". Large-scale producers will benefit from the creation of "wholesale hubs" - markets and auctions at which groups of producers can sell their products in bulk. Small-scale retailers, on the other hand, will be organised in new markets to semi-formalise informal players and help them grow.
Other projects listed by the minister include the development of industrial and manufacturing zones. Businesses will be grouped together in "special economic clusters" by industry and target players offered various incentives.
Obwocha added that the Government will also pilot five industrial parks for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in various urban centres. These will be run with help from local authorities.
The information technology sector's projects are centred around developing a showcase park for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
The BPO park will have "world-class infrastructure developed by top international IT suppliers". Competitive incentive packages will be offered to call-centre companies interested in being located in park. This, the minister said, will provide "a one-stop shop for administration, talent and services".
In the financial sector, emphasis will be placed on creating bigger and more efficient banks and reforming the pension system. The Government will also issue a sovereign benchmark bond to take advantage of cheaper foreign borrowing opportunities as well as work on a strategy to harness remittances from Kenyans in the Diaspora.
As resources are poured in the 20 flagship projects, the plan also calls for other enabling changes that will be critical to driving growth.
To support the resort cities, tourist circuits, wholesale hubs and other projects, money will be spent on building key roads to the various locations. Many of the flagship projects - such as the "special economic clusters" - will also benefit from subsidised energy costs. The State will also support the development of transport, telecommunication and construction initiatives around flagship projects.
Public sector reform will involve having "proactive delivery units" drive flagship projects, aggressively pursuing target investors, and coordinating infrastructure and land purchase. The Government plans to simplify and reduce taxes to help move informal players to greater formality.
Obwocha said funding would be provided for training programmes to support the quantity and quality of talent needed in each key sector.
Under land reform and security, the Government will develop a land use master-plan, using a publicly-accessible land registry to identify and zone certain areas for specific types of activity. The plan also calls for increased spending to assure security for investors and Kenyans in general.
Under Vision 2030's "social pillar", the plan focuses on seven broad areas: education, health, housing, water and sanitation, environment, gender, and youth and vulnerable groups.
The State also plans to build and fully equip 560 new secondary schools to accommodate the increasing number of students graduating from primary schools. Some 28,000 new teachers will be hired to improve quality and end localised teacher shortages. The government will also establish a computer supply programme to help equip students with modern IT skills.
In the pastoral districts, the State will build at least one boarding primary schools in each constituency "to ensure that learning is not disrupted as people move from one place to the other". A voucher programme will also be rolled out in five poor districts enabling the poor to access education.
Community health centres will be integrated into the national health system to promote preventive health care as opposed to curative intervention. The Ministry of Health will cease to run the country's health institutions. Instead, the Government will encourage independent operations at district, provincial and national hospitals.
A mandatory National Health Insurance Scheme will also be created to promote equity in Kenya's healthcare financing. Health funding will be sent directly to hospitals and community health centres as opposed to district headquarters. The State will also scale up the output-based approach to healthcare to enable disadvantaged groups such as the poor and orphans get medical attention from preferred institutions.
Under plans for water and sanitation, the Government plans to improve water resource information and management by rehabilitating the hydro-meteorological network. To increase water harvesting and storage, two multipurpose dams - with a storage capacity of 2.4 billion cubic metres - will be built along rivers Nzoia and Nyando. Another 22 medium-sized dams with a capacity of two billion cubic metres will be build in various arid and semi-arid areas.
Obwocha added that more money would be pumped into the Women's Enterprise Fund under projects intended to support the youth, women and vulnerable groups.
The State will also establish a "consolidated social protection fund" for cash transfers intended to help orphans, vulnerable children and the elderly.
To address housing needs, the Vision 2030 plan calls for the building sector to produce 200,000 housing units annually by 2012. The Government will enact the Housing Bill, 2006, to enable one-stop approval for housing developers keen to take on the challenge. It will also to establish a secondary mortgage finance corporation to increase access to housing finance.
Obwocha's presentation was the most detailed view of the Vision 2030 play revealed yet. It sets the ground for the development of the Vision's first Medium-Term Planning process for 2008 to 2012.
Once sector teams are in place, the Government will create a Vision Delivery Commission to fast-track the inplementation of flagship projects.
Government spending will then be shifted towards meeting the medium term priorities and getting started on the road to being a "middle-income country".
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