Government to reduce cost of electricity at Naivasha industrial park in attempt to woo investors

NAKURU,Kenya,July 21 – The high cost of electricity in the country has been blamed as one of the major challenges impeding local and foreign investments. Now as a result, the government has announced that electricity offered to investors at the multi-billion Naivasha industrial park will be cheaper by over 50 percent.

The gesture of goodwill is now expected to attract investors in the special economic zone which is already served by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from the Mombasa Port.

During the “Kenya Doing Business Agenda 2021’ workshop in Naivasha, stakeholders pleaded with the government to improve the ease of doing business in the country.

“The special economic unit in Naivasha is already served by SGR and we are keen to supply investors with cheap power from geothermal,” said Cabinet Secretary East African Community (EAC) Adan Mohammed.

Moving forward, the government will now seek to exploit the geothermal power from the nearby geothermal wells in Olkaria Naivasha.

“Under the programme,investors will get electricity at between 5-6 US cents per unit against the current rate of 18-20 US cents.The special economic unit in Naivasha is already served by SGR and we are keen to supply investors with cheap power from geothermal,” said Adan who further said, “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.

Adan meanwhile called on manufacturers and county governments to address the issue of double taxation, which has affected the price of goods across the country.

“Though there are legislations passed in the counties, we need to engage on this failure to which some investors will close down,” he said.

Kenya is currently ranked position 56 globally from 135 at the same stage five years ago in terms of ease of doing business.

“We have made 80 steps forward and we are currently working on an action plan that will improve the current business environment,” said Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) deputy CEO Martha Cheruto.

The infrastructure developments in Naivasha are expected to also benefit neighboring countries that will transport their goods after being stored at the Naivasha dry port.