Kenya is offering lower electricity tariffs to attract investors to the Naivasha Special Economic Zone.
Under the programme, the investors will get electricity at between 5-6 US cents per unit against the current rate of 18-20 US cents.
This emerged during the “Kenya Doing Business Agenda 2021’ workshop in Naivasha where stakeholders converged to address the ease of doing business in the country.
According to the East African Community (EAC) Cabinet secretary, Adan Mohammed, the government in keen on tapping the geothermal power from the nearby wells in Olkaria, Naivasha.
“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.
Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, the Mohammed said that the government is determined to ease the cost of doing business in Kenya.
“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 taxations for goods moving from one county to the other.
He said this posed a major threat to investment in the counties with many manufacturers opposed to this.
“Though there are legislations passed in the counties, we need to engage on this, failure to which some investors will shut down,” he said.
Kenya Private Sector Alliance deputy chief executive Martha Cheruto said that the government had made gains by addressing the ease of doing business.
She said that Kenya is currently ranked at position 56 globally from 135 five years ago in terms of ease in doing business adding that the private sector will closely work with the government to improve on 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 said the various infrastructure projects and the industrial park in Naivasha will boost ease of doing business.
“Many of our clients in DR Congo are keen on the Naivasha dry port but here is also a need to address the issues of taxation and licensing in the country,” he said.
