Chinese companies continue being the biggest winners in upscale plans initiated by the government.
They have outsmarted most Kenyan Companies with their extensive and modern technology which has since impressed.
A Chinese real estate group has announced plans to build a mega city in Nairobi’s Athi River area at an estimated cost of Sh200 billion, deepening the Asian nation’s inroads into Kenya’s construction sector.
Beijing Damei Investment Company, a Chinese construction giant, on Wednesday said the project — dubbed the Friendship City — will be modelled along the mega Chinese parks that comprise homes, factories and amenities like hospitals, schools and shopping malls all in one location.
The city, whose construction starts later this year, will sit on about 1,200 acres of land in Athi River, Businessman Bobby Kamani said Thursday, while disclosing that he has shareholding interest in the multi-billion-shilling project through his Zuri Group of companies.
It is estimated that the city will have the capacity to host 150,000 Kenyans, many of who will live and work on site.
The Friendship City will have the status of a Special Economic Zone with a township and five separate functional parks within the property, documents related to the project have revealed.
It will attract an initial foreign direct investment into the country of approximately Sh201 billion (about $2 billion) with the potential of up to Sh756 billion (about$7.5 billion) by the time the entire development is complete, said Jiannan Bao, the director of the Beijing-based Damei Investment Company.
“There exists the potential of direct employment of 150,000 people whilst indirectly employing close to 500,000 people, thus impacting over 2,000,000 lives,” said Mr Bao in the project documents. The investors will enjoy tax breaks consistent with Kenya’s policy of special economic zone (SEZs).