Susan Anyangu
1 May 2008
Nairobi — The Government of Japan has pledged Sh15 billion grant towards the development of the Mombasa Port.
The new Japanese envoy to Kenya, Mr Shigeo Iwatani, said on Wednesday that an exchange note to that effect would be signed between the two governments mid this month.
Iwatani said his Government is impressed by the economic development that Kenya has achieved and promised more donor funding to finance the country's infrastructure.
"The Japanese Government is impressed by Kenya's economic growth and development and is keen to assist the country further. We have a number of projects in the pipeline and will begin with the signing of the exchange note towards the development of the Mombasa Port," said Iwatani.
He was speaking in Nairobi during a meeting with Planning and National Development minister, Mr Henry Obwocha. Iwatani said discussions were ongoing with the Kenyan authorities on a five-year development plan.
"We are currently holding internal discussions on a five-year assistance plan for Kenya. We are aware that the Government of Kenya recently launched vision 2030 and we want our assistance to be in tandem with that vision," Iwatani said.
He said the final decision the proposed plan would be made public in the next few months after consultations between the two governments are complete.
Obwocha said accumulated assistance from Japan through the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) stands at Sh281 billion.
"Japan is one of Kenya's leading development partner, as evident in their assistance to Kenya," explained Obwocha.
He appealed to the Japan to assist Government initiative targeted at equipping district development officers in 150 needy constituencies. He said that assistance in the form of vehicles would go a long way in developing the constituencies.
The envoy announced that President Kibaki would this month commission the Sondu Miriu Hydropower plant, which was built with assistance from Japan.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The East African Standard. 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.
