President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday witnessed the signing of two project delivery agreements totaling $2.2 billion through concessional financing and Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The projects include the Konza Data Centre and Smart Cities Project to be undertaken by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei at a cost of 175 billion shillings ($1.7 billion) and the construction of the Nairobi JKIA to James Gichuru expressway on a PPP arrangement by the China Road and Bridge Corporation for 51 billion shillings ($502 million).
Also signed during the President’s visit to China is the operation and maintenance service agreement for the Nairobi to Naivasha segment of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
The Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities Project was conceived in 2017 by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology and Huawei, and entails the development of core ICT infrastructure which includes National Cloud Data Centre, Smart ICT Network, Public Safe City and Smart Traffic Solution, and Government Cloud and Enterprise Service.
Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities Project is part of the Konza Techno City, a Vision 2030 flagship project started in 2008 and is aimed at developing technology-intensive and high-tech industries in ICT, biotechnology and e-commerce.
Phase I of the project is estimated to create over 17,000 jobs and contribute an estimated Shs 90 billion to the Kenyan economy.
The construction of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport(JKIA) to James Gichuru expressway is expected to ease traffic flow on the busy Mombasa highway as part of the ongoing interventions by the government to decongest key roads in Nairobi.
The expressway will be the first of its kind in Africa with unique design features that combine underpasses, overpasses, exits as well as a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) component covering the entire stretch.
Kenyatta is attending the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in China which kicked off on Friday.
JK/as/APA