The government has announced that electricity offered to investors at the multi-billion Naivasha industrial park will be cheaper by over 50 percent. The move is meant to woo more local and international investors in the special economic zone which is already served by Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Mombasa Port. This came as the State admitted that the cost of electricity and labor continued to be some of the major challenges facing investors in the country. This emerged during the “Kenya Doing Business Agenda 2021’ workshop in Lake Naivasha Resort where stakeholders converged to address the ease of doing business in the country.
According to the CS East African Community (EAC) Adan Mohammed, the government was keen to tap on the geothermal power from the nearby geothermal wells in Olkaria Naivasha. He said that under the programme, investors would get electricity at between 5-6 US cents per unit against the current rate of 18-20 US cents. “The special economic unit in Naivasha is already served by SGR and we are keen to supply investors with cheap power from geothermal,” he said. Addressing the press at the sidelines of the workshop, the CS said that the government was keen to ease the cost of doing business in the country.
“We are keen to compete with other countries and we want to be in the top quarter of the countries ranked best in the ease of doing business,” he said. The CS at the same time revisited the row between counties and manufacturers over double taxation for goods moving from one county to the other. He warned that this posed a major threat to investment in the counties with many manufacturers opposed to this. “Though there are legislation passed in the counties, we need to engage on this failure to which some investors will close down,” he said.
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) deputy CEO Martha Cheruto noted that the government had made gains by addressing the ease of doing business. She said that Kenya was currently ranked globally position 56 from 135 five years ago in terms of ease in doing business adding that they were keen to work with the State to improve this. “We have made 80 steps forward and we are currently working on an action plan that will improve the current business environment,” she said. Equity Bank Chief Commercial Officer Polycarp Igathe was full of praise for ongoing infrastructure projects and the Industrial park in Naivasha.“Many of our clients in DR Congo are keen on the Naivasha dry port and there is also a need to address the issues of taxation and licensing in the country,” he said.