Pres­i­dent Uhuru Keny­atta has an­nounced plans to es­tab­lish a dry port in Voi town to de­con­gest the port of Mom­basa.

The Head of State said the dry port is one of the flag­ship pro­jects the Ju­bilee ad­min­is­tra­tion is es­tab­lish­ing to at­tract in­vest­ment and cre­ate jobs for youth in the county.

Pres­i­dent Keny­atta, ac­com­pa­nied by Deputy Pres­i­dent William Ruto, made the re­marks when he dis­em­barked from the train at the Voi rail­way sta­tion in Taita Taveta County, which he of­fi­cially opened Wednes­day.

Drum­ming up sup­port for his re-elec­tion bid, Pres­i­dent Keny­atta said the Gov­ern­ment would con­struct the pro­posed dry port to not only de­con­gest the Mom­basa port but also to al­le­vi­ate poverty and un­em­ploy­ment.

Uhuru was re­ceived by lo­cal lead­ers among them Sen­a­tor Dan Mwazo, County Woman Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Joyce Lay, Taveta MP Naomi Sha­ban, and all the county Ju­bilee as­pi­rants.

Mr Mwazo, who re­cently joined the rul­ing coali­tion from ODM, asked the Pres­i­dent to of­fi­cially an­nounce the es­tab­lish­ment of the dry port in the town.

The sen­a­tor asked the Pres­i­dent to al­lay fears that the Voi flag­ship pro­ject had been re­lo­cated to Naivasha in Nakuru County.

Dur­ing his re­cent visit to the re­gion to drum up sup­port for ODM leader and NASA pres­i­den­tial can­di­date Raila Odinga, Mom­basa Gov­er­nor Has­san Joho claimed that the pro­ject was set aside by the Grand Coali­tion gov­ern­ment to be im­ple­mented in the re­gion but that the Ju­bilee ad­min­is­tra­tion had re­lo­cated it to Naivasha.

Mr Joho, a fierce critic of the Ju­bilee ad­min­is­tra­tion, said dur­ing the reign of the Grand Coali­tion, Pres­i­dent Mwai Kibaki and Prime Min­is­ter Raila Odinga had agreed to es­tab­lish the dry port in Voi town but that the Ju­bilee gov­ern­ment had trans­ferred it to Naivasha.

“We all sup­ported the pro­ject to be es­tab­lished in Voi town, which would have thrived due to in­crease in the vol­ume of busi­ness as the town is strate­gi­cally sit­u­ated along the busy Nairobi-Mom­basa high­way, about 150km from the port of Mom­basa,” the ODM deputy party leader claimed.

Job op­por­tu­ni­ties

Pres­i­dent Keny­atta as­sured the lo­cal res­i­dents that the pro­posed pro­ject would be im­ple­mented in Voi town and and that it would help in­crease vol­ume of busi­ness and cre­ate job op­por­tu­ni­ties in the re­gion.

The Pres­i­dent promised more good­ies for the lo­cal com­mu­nity, an­nounc­ing that the Gov­ern­ment would soon im­ple­ment the multi-bil­lion shilling Mz­ima II Spring pipeline pro­ject to end peren­nial wa­ter short­age in the county.

He said wa­ter scarcity would be a thing of the past once the pro­ject that is ex­pected to cost more than Sh30 bil­lion is im­ple­mented.

“The ten­der for the pro­ject has al­ready been awarded and the pro­ject will be im­ple­mented soon to ben­e­fit the lo­cal com­mu­nity first be­fore other coun­ties can reapfrom it,” he said.

The first phase of the pro­ject was es­tab­lished in 1957 and mostly ben­e­fits Mom­basa.

“The mega wa­ter pro­ject is geared to­wards trans­form­ing the lives of the lo­cal com­mu­nity as it will cre­ate jobs and im­prove food se­cu­rity,” said Pres­i­dent Keny­atta.

The re­gion is grap­pling with per­sis­tent wa­ter and food short­ages due to un­re­li­able rain­fall and hu­man-wildlife con­flict.

Uhuru said the pro­ject would sat­isfy res­i­dents’ re­quire­ments for do­mes­tic use and ir­ri­ga­tion and ranch­ing as core eco­nomic ac­tiv­i­ties.

He added that the Gov­ern­ment would fast-track the im­ple­men­ta­tion of the wa­ter pro­ject to sup­ply the coun­ty’s low­lands.

Uhuru said he would visit the re­gion soon to com­mis­sion the tar­ma­ck­ing of the 56km Bura-Mgange-Werugha-Mbale-Msau-Mt­wamwag­odi road and other de­vel­op­ment pro­jects.

He caused laugh­ter when he told the crowd that the Voi-Mwatate-Wun­danyi road, which was tar­ma­cked in the 1970s when his fa­ther, Jomo Keny­atta, was pres­i­dent, was re­ha­bil­i­tated for the first time this year dur­ing his reign.

Mr Ruto said the Ju­bilee ad­min­is­tra­tion had promised to build roads for all Kenyans.

“We should take credit for ma­jor in­fra­struc­tural pro­jects,” he said.

Source: Kwaela News Network

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.