India has extended a Sh10 billion ($100 million) loan to Kenya for agricultural mechanisation. The funding deal was signed Wednesday in India following bilateral talks between the two countries. President Uhuru Kenyatta is on a two-day state visit to the country. Kenya’s trade with India is tilted in favour of the emerging Asian giant. In 2015 Kenya imported goods worth Sh205 billion from India, while exports to the country stood at less than Sh10 billion. “The government is keen to increase the volume and value of Kenya’s export base from agriculture and mineral-based raw products to value added manufacturing products,” said Mr Kenyatta at a joint press briefing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. He said Kenya is also seeking a partnership in technology transfer, especially on processing of natural resources. Several Indian multinationals have business interests in Kenya, including the ongoing construction of a power transmission line under a Line of Credit (LOC) of Sh6.16 billion ($61.6 million). Rising star The upgrading of Rift Valley Textiles Factory (Rivatex) funded by a Sh2.995 billion ($29.95 million) LOC is ongoing, while another Sh1.5 billion ($15 million) LOC to IDB Capital Limited for development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is being implemented. India is a rising star in the global economy with its middle class offering a vast market to investors. Mr Kenyatta, who is on a reciprocal visit following the Indian premier’s visit to Nairobi late last year, urged Mr Modi to subject Kenyan exports to the same...

Arusha — Having adequately addressed the alleged extravagant expenditure which nearly brought it to its knees recently, the East African Community (EAC) began the new year with a dilemma on what to do with its new member; South Sudan. The world's newest nation was admitted into the bloc last year but is yet to be fully embraced in the EAC activities one of the reasons being sporadic violence pitting the government troops and rebels led by the former vice president Riek Machar. The fighting and the general instability there continue to cause worries among the bureaucrats at the Arusha-based secretariat such that they don't know for sure when the warring parties there would settle down and take their countries to a new path for peace. Officials of the regional organization have often said full incorporation of South Sudan still awaited some formalities which, some hinted, may have to await a new financial year or upon receipt of updates on the security situation in a strife torn country. However, it is known for sure that the difficulties of having South Sudan fully on board may take some time because of the fragile security. Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, the EAC secretary general who is credited for the tough financial control measures instituted recently, is one of the senior officials at the EAC headquarters who would not say for sure when the new member would feature in the routine activities of the bloc. During his first ever and only press conference he has addressed...

Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia (right) and other government officials when they received the first batch of standard gauge railway locomotives at the Mombasa port on January 11, 2017. Mr Macharia said the railway project will be completed 18 months ahead of schedule. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP  The government is set to receive 50 more locomotives by May 2017, ahead of the commissioning of the Sh372 billion standard gauge railway (SGR) on June 1. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said in Mombasa on Wednesday that the second batch of six locomotives are expected to arrive at the Mombasa port in February while the last batch of 44 will be delivered by May 2017. The minister, who spoke at the port when he received the first batch of six locomotives and railway engines, said the SGR project will be completed 18 months ahead of schedule. He was accompanied by Transport and Infrastructure Principal Secretaries Irungu Nyakera and John Mosonik, Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director Catherine Mturi-Wairi and Kenya Railways Corporation chairman Jeremiah Kianga. The six locomotives, which were manufactured by China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation Company, included four freight locomotives. They were delivered by the Chinese Engineering, Procurement and Construction Company and China Road and Bridge Corporation. “I am glad that the standard gauge railway civil works were completed in November last year and now we have started to receive the 56 locomotives in batches,” he said. FREIGHT WAGONS Mr Macharia added that 1,620 freight wagons are...

University students from the East African region will be able to transfer credits from one university to another within the five member states of the East African Community from February, if the region’s heads of state endorse a plan to create a common higher education area. Under the proposal presented in a harmonisation document by the community’s higher education body, the Inter-University Council of East Africa, and already approved by education ministers of the trading bloc, students will be able to move from any of the more than 100 public and private universities in the region at any stage of learning, without having to sit a special entry examination. The community, with an estimated population of 150 million citizens, consists of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and is in the process of admitting a new member, Africa’s youngest state, South Sudan. “Under the proposed harmonised higher education framework, student mobility will be made seamless enabling learners to move from one institution to the other at will,” said Cosam Chawanga, IUCEA’s head of quality assurance. Universities in the region will recognise qualifications from any chartered university and from every programme accredited by individual higher education authorities in the countries of origin, said Chawanga. The creation of a common higher education region was slated to have been completed in 2016 but bureaucratic procedures delayed the process, the officer noted. Last December though, education ministers met in Arusha, Tanzania, the bloc’s headquarters, and approved the proposed harmonisation document ahead of February’s heads of state summit...

Many must have caught the comments by the East African Community’s outgoing Director-General in charge of Trade and Customs, Peter Kiguta, when he said in The EastAfrican last week that the earlier enthusiasm among member states to move the region towards higher levels of integration “seems to have waned over the past two years.” He is right. Things like regional integration are no different from a successful music album. Not all the songs on it have to be a hit. You need only need one big one, and the album achieves greatness. But just being a hit is not enough. Thus Ghanaian hip hop artist Fuse ODG’s song Azonto was a big hit, but what turned it into a phenomenon was that it became wildly danceable too. Likewise, the EAC has some big hits – the One Stop Border Posts (OSBP) initiative, the Kenya-Uganda-Rwanda Single Tourist Visa, the dramatic reductions in port delays at Mombasa, the increased ease of travel using IDs, and so on. The problem is that they are not danceable. They are the sausage without the sizzle. In this day and age, when the distractions on social media are endless, the memorable things, and the ones that form their own reality, are the hashtags that trend. The EAC’s problem then is not that it hasn’t done great things. Rather, it has done nothing that is hashtag worthy. For something to be hashtag worthy, it doesn’t have to create 10,000 jobs. It just has to be razzle-dazzle. Something...

Experts confirm potential of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in African (PIDA) to contribute jobs and GDP growth When the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport Corridor Project (LAPSSET) won the prestigious Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum Award in Washington DC on March 10, 2016, the project was up against equally critical multi-billion dollar programmes including Mexico City New International airport and Seine-Nord Europe Canal, connecting northern European countries such as Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. LAPSSET’s award in the job creation category honours leaders “driving the next generation’s most transformative global infrastructure projects.” Since inception in 2012, LAPSSET has created an estimated 5,000 direct jobs for the 500- kilometre road between Isiolo in Kenya and Moyale, a market town on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya. Opportunities in engineering designs around the Port of Lamu, banking, telecommunications, and energy generation are still available. LAPSSET, a flagship project of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in African (PIDA) and highlighted at the 2016 PIDA week has set the path. Once completed the project is anticipated to inject 2 to 3% in Kenya’s GDP but also position the country as an economic hub in East Africa. We are convinced that the 51 priority projects identified under PIDA in the areas of energy, transport, ICT and trans-boundary water will follow suit. Creating productive jobs remains a key challenge in sub-Saharan Africa where nine out of ten workers in both rural and urban areas are estimated to hold only informal jobs (ILO, 2009). By 2050,...

The private sector has cited high logistical costs as one of the biggest impediments to doing business in Kenya. The sector is also concerned over the bureaucratic bottlenecks that gag quick land accusation despite the many infrastructural projects that the Government has put up in recent times. “A lot of work has to be done on the regulations relating to logistics. Delays in land acquisitions and sales documents alongside high transport costs remain leading issues that turn away potential investors,” said Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) Chief Executive Office Carole Kariuki. She spoke at the signing of a partnership with global publishing, research and consultancy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG) on Monday. Ms Kariuki said if the State does not act fast to address these impediments, achievement of Vision 2030 goals will remain a pipe dream. CONTINUED GROWTH The Kepsa boss also urged the Government to stop restricting Kenya’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework to infrastructural projects. “PPPs should be used more widely across all the sectors of the economy rather than being restricted primarily to the country’s infrastructure projects. I reckon that further work is needed in the current PPP framework,” she said. Ms Kariuki added that despite the current framework showing signs of improvement in its application, the Government should put more effort in making it more viable. “We believe that the current framework is working well only for large projects. In order for it to be improved, the Government needs to focus on creating bankable projects. Furthermore, the...

Importers are worried that the new directive to insure all cargo locally might turn into a trade barrier. Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (KIFWA) warned that they will fight the new directive should it turn out to be a non-tariff barrier (NTB) - a form of restrictive trade where barriers to trade are set up and take a form other than a tariff. “We hope this directive will not affect the time to clear cargo from the port,” said KIFWA representative William Ojonyo during the launch of Jubilee Insurance’s marine cargo insurance that will enable customers and intermediaries to manage their own marine insurance policy. Mr Ojonyo said as much as clearing and forwarding agents would like to be part of this initiative, they wanted it to be “seamless”. No capacity “We do not want to do a lot of walking. Manual will not be helpful,” said Ojonyo in an event that was also attended by the new insurance regulatory authority CEO Godfrey Kiptum. Effective January 1, 2017, it is mandatory for all commercial imports to be insured locally under Section 20 of the Insurance Act Cap 487. However, Jubilee Insurance CEO Patrick Tumbo assured importers that they had the capacity to roll out marine insurance. He also said that, just as many other insurance products, the cost for marine insurance will not be fixed. “All we need is a system that is easy to navigate,” said Mr Tumbo. There have been concerns that local insurance firms have no...

Dar es Salaam — China has pledged more development support for Tanzania to enable the country meet targets set in the 2016/20 National Development Plan and achieve the ambition to build the industrial economy. The Chinese minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Wang Yi, issued the promise during official talks with his Tanzanian counterpart, Dr Augustine Mahiga in the city. Mr Yi had paid a day-long official visit. He said, China was ready to assist Tanzania in its development projects particularly roads, railway and the construction of ports in Bagamoyo and Zanzibar. "The cooperation will continue to go deeper and extensively, and China will always stand shoulder to shoulder in the making of Tanzania development and for the wellbeing of it's people," he said. This was among the issues which dominated the one-hour discussions between the two delegations at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam. "We also promise to pump industrial investment as a way to support the government mission of building an industrial economy,"he said. Moreover, he assured continued support for Tanzania in the latter's bid to improve industries and infrastructure. For his part, Dr Mahiga welcomed the support, saying that the government was ready for the move, as part of efforts to improve lives of of the people. "We encourage many Chinese companies to invest in Tanzania and again, they have shown interest to build us new structures in Dodoma," he said. According to him, China is committed to pose comprehensive reforms at Tazara to...

IN SUMMARY Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure James Macharia is expected to flag off the locomotive engines. President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have said that the first train will set off from Nairobi on June 1 to Mombasa. Four locomotives and two Shatners (railway engines) arrived at the port of Mombasa on Monday as the Sh372 billion Standard Gauge Railway takes shape. Kenya Ports Authority managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi received the cargo that arrived aboard MV Kota Bistari from the manufacturer, China Railway Rolling Stock. The locomotives have been brought into the country by the Chinese Engineering, Procurement and Construction Company and China Road and Bridge Corporation for the multi-billion project expected to be launched in June. The equipment arrived on Sunday night and is the first batch of the locomotives expected to haul modern wagons along the Standard Gauge Railway ahead of their commissioning on Wednesday. Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure James Macharia is expected to flag off the locomotive engines. The Shatners are railway engines but do not pull wagons; they are used to test the efficiency and suitability of the railway line before the locomotives use them. Ms Mturi-Wairi was accompanied by general manager for technical services Joseph Atonga, corporate services manager Martin Mutuku and head of security Mariam Hamisi in receiving the equipment at the port. President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have said that the first train will set off from Nairobi on June 1 to Mombasa. The SGR is...