Nairobi — Plans to construct aggregation and industrial parks across 25 counties have commenced after the Ministry of Trade and the Council of Governors issued a tender notice inviting bids from contractors.
The interested National Contractors have until July 21 to submit their bid which must be accompanied by a 9 million Shillings guarantee in the form of a Bid Bond.
The purpose of bid security is to protect the contracting entity from losses incurred if the winning bidder fails to fulfill their obligations under the contract.
The parks are to be built at a cost of 500 million Shillings each and will be located in Baringo, Kisumu, Wajir, Samburu, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Kisii among other counties.
Other counties targetted in the first phase of the scheme include; Bomet, Elgeyo Marakwat, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kericho, Kilifi, Kitui, Laikipia, Lamu, Machakos, Mandera, Narok, Nyandarua, Taita Taveta, Tharka Nithi, Trans Nzoia, Vihiga, and Wajir.
"CAIPS are clusters of independent aggregation (collection) centres that will be located in each county within proximity to production areas to serve farmers and primary producers through collection, storage and storing, and even primary processing and value addition," read the notice.
The Tender notice states that each county aggregation and industrial park will have a minimum of four manufacturing sheds of 4,000 Square Metres, thus devolving manufacturing capacity to each of the 47 counties.
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There will also be an Aggregation Centre of 4,000 Square Metres which will have a cold storage facility to prevent post-harvest losses.
Trade and Industrialization Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has recently stated that the national government will put in half of the amount with the devolved units expected to cater for the other half.
He said construction would be done in two phases with the first one being done on a first come first served basis where counties that will have their allocations in place on time will be given priority.
The CS said the development is aimed at boosting agriculture production by adding value to farm produce before sale locally and internationally which will also assist in curbing postharvest losses for perishable products.
"Through CAIPS, the government will support the establishment of industrial ventures through the construction of industrial parks, and disbursement of research and development grants. In no time counties will be able to pioneer successful ventures spawning a new industrial ecosystem that supports the Bottom-Up-Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA)," the Ministry said.
