The County Government of Nyeri has inked a deal with a local contractor for the construction of a Sh500 million aggregate and industrial park in Kieni constituency.
According to the Chief Officer in Charge of Trade, George Mwangi, the park, a joint partnership between the national and county governments, will be up and running in the next 24 months. The two levels of government will each contribute Sh250 million towards the project.
The multi-million facility will sit on 30 acres of Agriculture Mechanisation Services land in Naro Moru. Mwangi said that the main objective of the park will be to attract investors in the agro-processing industry as well as create skilled and non-skilled job opportunities for the local community.
He said that the park will be targeting local producers in the agriculture sector with the view of providing sorting, warehousing, and value-added services for their products. Some of the key sub-sectors that have been earmarked include coffee, avocado, dairy, and potato value chains. The park will feature aggregation centres for different agricultural products, warehouses, cooling plants, logistics zones, and an elaborate road infrastructure connecting the industrial park.
“The park is bringing together products for aggregation, sorting out, and value addition, which will preserve the produce for longer and fetch higher prices. We have extended our invitation to other stakeholders to come and invest by setting up shop based on the raw materials we will be dealing with,” he said.
Mwangi noted that by constructing the park near the Nyeri-Isiolo highway as well as situating it close to the Chaka Railway Station, the department was keen on boosting inter-county trade. Additionally, Mwangi said that there were plans to tap into the export market for some of the horticultural products, such as coffee, which are known to fetch better prices internationally.
“The location was strategically picked due to its proximity to the Lappset Corridor. The corridor progresses in a tripartite LPG, with roads and railways providing adequate infrastructure and connectivity, and we are hoping that we will be working with other counties to not only boost trade but also see which other value chains we can add,” said Mwangi.
By Wangari Mwangi and Samuel Maina
