Uhuru to launch Sh12bn park for industrialists, SMEs

President Uhuru Kenyatta will Friday launch the Sh12.5 billion Infinity Industrial Park that is looking to cash in on the growing demand for a conducive environment for local manufacturers.

Abacus Property Consultants, an international real estate firm with operations in East Africa, India and Dubai, and which is managing the project, said the premises would provide the necessary industrial infrastructure and services to manufacturers on lease.

The park will mainly feature manufacturing plants, wholesale distribution outlets, 160 go-downs set on 25 acres and support enterprises like banks, shopping centres and retail outlets.

The park that is set on 200 acres is the second large such development to be set up along the Eastern Bypass and follows the 450-acre Tatu City Industrial Park in Ruiru.

“The park is excellent for multinational and local industries as it provides serviced plots where they can just come and set up rather than try to develop these amenities on their own,” said Ashok Shah, the chief executive of Abacus Property Consultants.

The park is located about two kilometres from the bypass and 10km from the highway.

The developers have so far built a boundary wall around the 200 acres, sunk a borehole and built a police station.

Mr Shah said that they are laying the infrastructure, including the sewer lines, power lines, data cables and the dual carriage access road to the Eastern bypass. Other facilities expected are a fire station, a power sub-station, a hospital and a shopping mall.

He added that the project is being co-financed by Abacus and a foreign investor whom he declined to name.

Investors in the park will buy serviced plots of between one and five acres for own development while SMEs will lease space in the go-downs.

“So far we have signed MOUs with investors for about 35 per cent of the 200 acres,” Mr Shah added.

Abacus director Rajesh Shah says multinational firms have shown interest to use the park.

A payment plan on the park’s website shows that an acre costs between Sh71 million and Sh91 million, depending on how quick the payment is made. Space in the industrial sheds is going for Sh6, 300 per square foot.

Kenya is eyeing a double-digit growth rate in the near-term and a middle-income status by 2030, driven by growth in manufacturing, agriculture, ICT and tourism.

Mr Shah expects the park, through manufacturing enterprises and support facilities, to create more than 20,000 jobs directly.

Industrial parks like Infinity and Tatu located along the Eastern bypass present the first serious attempt to establish an alternative industrial base to the congested Industrial Area in Nairobi.

Selling serviced plots to investors is becoming popular with the government also looking to lease plots in Konza Techno City.