Sagana Industrial Park Gets Nod for Ground Breaking

Kerugoya, Friday June 30, 2023

KNA by Mutai Kipngetich

Officials from the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industries (MITI), the National Treasury and the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) have given the green light for Kirinyaga-based Sagana Industrial Park to proceed to groundbreaking.

The officials who were on a site visit led by the Director of Industries in the State Department of Industrialization Joseph Mbeva, said the team is satisfied that Kirinyaga had met all the conditions for the start of the project.

“The aim of this visit is to engage officials from Kirinyaga County to check on preparedness and we agree on the implementation of the project,” Mbeva said.

He said aggregation and industrial parks are one of the most sustainable efforts by the national and county governments to shape Kenya’s economy by targeting specific inclusive economic activities.

The Director said with the industrial parks, counties are set to be the new frontiers of investment and economic development through increased national productivity and sustainable diversification of production.

“The preparation by the County Government of Kirinyaga is very impressive, we are satisfied they are ready for the rollout, we are here to engage with the local stakeholders on how we will walk together to realize the CAIPs project,” Mbeva added.

Through County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (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 County Executive for Cooperative Development, Trade, Marketing, Tourism, Industrialization and Enterprise Development, Calbert Njeru said the aggregation and industrial parks will offer hope to the farmers who will now be able to aggregate their crops, access proper storage and processing facilities as the source for the direct market to processors or exporters.

“One of the major reasons for this project is to reduce post-harvest losses for the farmers. The project is also meant to trigger the development of manufacturing, reducing import of products and encouraging export, our people will get employment from the industries and our economy will grow,” said Njeru.

His Finance and Economic Planning counterpart, Jackline Njogu said the county has met all the minimum requirements set by the national government for the project and is ready to commence with works to develop the parks.

“For us here we are ready and the team has seen for itself and we are just waiting for the official launch of the start of the works,” she said.

Courtesy ; K. N. A