The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority has been handed a completed warehouse, an underground water tank and flammable goods stores — part of a Sh1 billion project.
Contractor Vaghjiyani Enterprises handed over Phase I of the project funded by the Global Fund to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
Kemsa board chairman Kembi Gitura said Phase II which is an office block is in progress and will be handed over at a later date.
Gitura said the project which commenced on March 28, 2018 was partly funded by Kemsa's internal resources and the government.
In 2016, Kemsa bought 14 acres of land from Kenya Airways, which included the space where its supply chain centre currently sits.
“After land acquisition using Kemsa own funds, the authority approached the GF and the national government to finance the project. The proposal was given a nod after months of negotiations,” he said.
Gitura said the warehouse will facilitate centralised management of medical commodities, expand storage capacity and reduce the overall cost of medical commodities.
He said the 18,000m2 building covering 12,000m2 storage space and 6,000m2 warehouse office space and cold room storage will be fitted with modern material handling equipment.
Gitura said the cold room will have proper controls while the roofing structure will be fitted with temperature controls to stabilise temperatures.
“The finalisation of this project means that the currently hired warehouse spaces will be surrendered, saving the organisation at least Sh5 million monthly which will be ploughed back to improve the infrastructure in the medical commodities supply chain at Kemsa,” he said.
Gitura recognised the GF’s valuable contribution and other development partners especially the United States Agency for International Development who have walked with Kemsa throughout its journey.
“Kemsa will continue to work closely with the development partners. We are also committed to forging strong partnerships in order to share knowledge, and optimize capacity to build a better and more efficient supply chain in Kenya and beyond,” he said.
