At least 3,000 people are set to be employed at the Rivatex branch to be opened in Nyando, Kisumu county.
Rift Valley Textile Limited is one of the major garment-making firms in Kenya. The branch will be set up on 2.5 acres in Boya.
The presence of the factory is expected to revive cotton farming in the region.
Rivatex factory manager Richard Tanui said they will set up prefabricated buildings in a few weeks to get the project going.
He said they will set up 3,000 sewing machines in the new site and employ the first batch of employees.
“With time we will be recruiting locals,” he said on Wednesday, when he inspected the land together with the company’s plant engineer Caroline Mureithi and Charles Kipkemoi as well as Nyando MP Jared Okello.
Okello said the project will improve the economy of Nyando and Kisumu and revive cotton farming, which collapsed.
He said the team was tasked by Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina and Principal Secretary Mr Francis Owino to survey the site and report its findings.
Okello said the project is being set up in collaboration with the department of small and medium enterprises, under the Ministry of Industrialisation.
He said the project should not be seen to be competing with Kicomi (Kisumu Cotton Mills).
After Kisumu, the factory will open branches in Nandi, Bomet and Turkana.
Edited by Frank Obonyo
