Kenya tops East Africa with mega infrastructure projects
Kenya had the highest number of mega infrastructure projects in East Africa in 2016, Deloitte has said, noting it helped the country to maintain its lead as the regional powerhouse. There were 11 ongoing projects valued at $7.01 billion in Kenya last year, Deloitte said in the 2016 Africa Construction Trends Report.
The top projects comprised both public and private investments such as the standard gauge railway, the Lamu port berths and the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project. “Lake Turkana Wind Power Project is the single largest private sector investment in Kenya’s history. Once completed, it will provide 310 megawatts of power to the grid, approximately 18% of Kenya’s installed capacity,” the firm stated.
Kenya was followed by Ethiopia and Uganda, each with nine projects, and Tanzania with eight. In total, East Africa had 43 projects valued at $27.4 billion spread across Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. The report says the transport sector accounted for the largest share of projects in East Africa last year, with 15 road and bridge projects.
Energy and power projects made up just over a quarter of all projects, estimated at more than $10.7 billion. The report indicates governments own about 86% of the projects, while only 2.3% belong to private domestic companies. The remainder are owned by German and British companies. Funding largely came from African development finance institutions and China, which together financed nearly half of all mega projects. Chinese companies stood out as the most visible contractors in East Africa, building 41.9% of all projects, the report states.
