Ideas & Debate

Jubilee lays ground for development of infrastructure

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Road construction in Eldoret town. The speed at which the Jubilee team marshalled commitment among regional leaders on a number of transport and energy infrastructure projects caught many by surprise. FILE

Any first term government has to go through specific motions in respect of its target projects. Definition of priority projects, financing plans, procurement and contracting all have to precede implementation.

There are also projects which are work in progress, from the previous government, which need to be completed.

The Jubilee government has in the past one year been working on preparatory steps for a number of priority projects, and this essentially sets in motion implementation in coming years.

The government appears to have identified regional infrastructure projects as its top priority. Presumably, this is to leverage Kenya’s advantage as a coastline nation with enormous opportunities for transit and regional trade.

In particular, modern and efficient regional transit infrastructure should provide payback for the ongoing upgrade investments at Mombasa port.

The speed at which the Jubilee team marshalled consensus and commitments among regional leaders on a number of transport and energy infrastructure projects caught many by surprise.

The planned Standard Gauge Railway connecting Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan; the crude oil pipeline from Uganda to Lamu; products pipelines from Eldoret to Kampala and Kigali; and a refinery in Uganda are all now seen as intra-state projects.

While the previous Kibaki government appeared to target new opportunities to the north (South Sudan, Ethiopia), the Jubilee team seems to have prioritised existing markets to the west (Uganda, Rwanda and by extension the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi).

Such cross border projects usually attract higher attention from investors and financiers due to their regional synergies and economies of scale.

The issue is not if these regional projects will be implemented, but when they will be completed because they are already at varying stages of commitment and financial resourcing.

For non-regional transport infrastructure across Kenya, not much information is publicly available. Whatever new projects are being planned, the government should not spread itself too thin.

It should select and prioritise a few high impact projects across the country and concentrate on making them a reality.

There are a few known critical “missing links” across the country, which if implemented will have high socio-economic impact on the entire nation and local populations.

Construction of the Voi to Taveta highway will connect the revamped Mombasa port to northern Tanzania.

A new highway from Lamu to Isiolo will provide initial economic justification for the planned Lamu port while establishing a transit trade route with Ethiopia.

There is also the pending reconstruction of the regional highway from Eldoret to Lokichogio. This road is important for the new oil development in the North Rift, and also for transit trade with South Sudan.

In respect of the power generation infrastructure, it is an achievement to come up with a four-year development plan within a few months of the Jubilee government.

The plan may have an ambitious timeline but at least it has enabled work on investment commitments to start. Power projects usually take long to implement due to their unique financing structure and regulatory negotiations.

There has, however, been debate about the most optimum energy mix in the power generation plan.

The arguments appear to support the prioritisation and maximisation of generation from “local resources” before resorting to “imported fuels”.
Local resources refer to geothermal steam, Kitui coal, and wind.

Commodity

Locally resourced power will have an edge over power from imported fossil fuels. This is because of foreign exchange implications; global commodity price volatility; and of course exchange rate fluctuations.

It is for these reasons that the country has been trying to get rid of imported fuel oil for power generation. Further, development of local resources increases national wealth while creating more jobs.

Still in the realm of infrastructure, we should acknowledge the early accomplishment of the Jubilee team for reforming systems and processes for clearance and transport of imported cargo. Cargo transit periods have been reduced from weeks to days.

Improved logistics efficiency has had an impact on lowering the cost of imported goods in Kenya and in neighbouring countries.

Perhaps the most outstanding achievement of the Jubilee team in the past one year is in road safety.

Through sheer tenacity of purpose and approach, the Jubilee government is about to achieve sustainable road safety.

While this is still work in progress, directionally we can confidently expect a substantial reduction of fatalities and injuries on our roads.

The Jubilee team in their first year appears to have thought through what they need to achieve by way of infrastructure.

However, the government will need to routinely communicate to the public the progress being made on some of the projects. Cabinet secretaries will need to communicate more.

Wachira is the director, Petroleum Focus Consultants. Email: [email protected]