Economy

NYS eyes mega projects with new construction arm

NYS

Devolution and Planning secretary Anne Waiguru and Abdon Jok Nhial, president African Association for Public Administration and Management, at a NYS stand during the AAPAM Young Professionals Network Conference. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The National Youth Service (NYS) will establish a commercially run construction arm to bid for mega projects in a shift that will heighten competition in the infrastructure scene and rev up job creation.

Devolution secretary Anne Waiguru yesterday said the construction unit will ride on the multi-billion shilling worth of equipment offered by countries like China to handle State and private sector jobs.

The revamped NYS will help the government offer opportunities to thousands of new recruits expected to join the service and make the NYS, which this year received Sh8.5 billion from the Treasury, to be self-sufficient.

“We are working not just to use the NYS as an agent for the youth to work in national service but we are also developing the construction side as an enterprise in its own,” said Ms Waiguru. “The NYS will be available for hire by private institutions, by county governments and the national government at a fee to do various construction activities such as dams, roads, water pans and buildings.”

READ: Devolution ministry spends Sh5bn to outfit the NYS

She added that NYS could now be the largest construction company based on its equipment, including a Sh6 billion kit the service received from China last year. This comes in a period when the government plans to construct 10,000km of roads over the next three years, an undertaking expected to create nearly 137,000 direct jobs.

Huge construction projects like the Lamu Port and South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor lined up by the government are also expected to provide opportunities for local contractors.

The NYS construction unit is seeking to take advantage of the government directive for foreign contractors to cede at least 30 per cent of the value of State-controlled projects to local firms.

Ms Waiguru did not elaborate when the company would start bidding for works but expects it to be a significant player in the next five years.

“We are working to ensure that in the long term – probably in the next four to five years – we should start seeing a significant amount of resources coming to the NYS from the construction industry to ensure that it becomes self-sufficient in the long term,” she added.

NYS intends to recruit 20,000 youth this year, up from 4,500 last year.

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