President defends land lease

• State House press chief says Kenya would immensely benefit from deal

President Mwai Kibaki on Saturday defended the government’s plan to lease 100,000 acres of the Tana Delta to Qatar, saying Kenya stands to benefit immensely from the possible Sh180 billion ($2.4 billion) deal.

The director of Presidential Press Service, Mr Isaiah Kabira, said the proposed project would open up vast areas of northern Kenya towards southern Sudan and Ethiopia.

Doha visit

The potential deal was discussed last month with Qatari officials when President Kibaki visited Doha for a development conference. It would see the Gulf state fund construction of a port in Lamu in exchange for use of the land.

“This is an integrated project which comprises highways, a railway line from Lamu through to Isiolo to Ethiopia and Sudan. This would serve as a new corridor to open up that part of the country for which we have never had a comprehensive plan,” Mr Kabira said in a telephone interview with the Sunday Nation.

Under the proposed agreement, details of which are being worked out, Qatar would help Kenya develop an equivalent number of acres for its own food security, he said.

“The area has great potential for vegetables and fruit. What the Qataris are saying is that they have the money and the market while we have the land,” Mr Kabira said.

He described the proposed arrangement as being of great strategic importance, particularly now that work is underway on a second port in Djibouti.

“It is critical that we put up a new port with modern infrastructure because Djibouti will make Mombasa suddenly look very old. If we don’t position ourselves appropriately, we will lose out to Djibouti,” he said.

Promising that the government would make as much information as possible available to the public, Mr Kabira said the project is expected to take five years to complete.

The PPS boss clarified that the project is still in the formative formative stages and involves the Office of the President and the ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs. He said other minstries like Transport and Ariculture would be brought on board should the project go forward.

Mr Kabira stressed that the project is still in the proposal stage, and the government can still look for another partner. “Our options are open, and if we are unable to to seal a deal with Qatar, we are free to look elsewhere.”

The area earmarked for the project is part of 1.3 million acres of uncultivated land owned by the government in the Tana River delta.

Proposed project

A proposed project in which Mumias would grow sugar cane and build a factory in the area has drawn controversy with environmentalists saying the project would destroy ecosytems. Pastoralists also claim the project would deny them access to grazing lands.

Many oil-rich countries are turning to leasing land in sub-Saharan Africa to boost their own food security, raising concern from UN agencies.

Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, has warned that the trend has the potential of ushering in an era of neo-colonialism and expressed skepticism that the projects would benefits people in host countries.