US firm signs deal to repair Kenya trains
US business firm General Electric has secured an agreement with Kenya to repair train locomotives and aircraft.
The memorandum will also see the company provide technical expertise to Kenyans.
This comes five months after the US firm set up a regional office in Nairobi.
“We want to get expertise in repairing some of these complex machines and other sophisticated tools as we seek to industrialise,” Vision 2030 secretariat director Mugo Kibati said.
He added that this would be an opportunity for Numerical Machining Complex (NMC), the government technical training centre, to upgrade and start using some of the facilities that have hitherto been under utilised for lack of specialised training.
He said NMC has facilities only comparable to South Africa and if well utilised, Kenya would soon start producing spare parts for various machines.
He added that GE would increase its energy output 10-fold from the current Sh34 billion 100MW wind power plant under construction in Ngong to 1,000MW as it seeks to explore other forms of energy production alternatives.
The company is looking for land in Northern Kenya to build another wind power plant with a capacity for 150 MW.
“We will concentrate on the energy and health sectors and also work with the Rift Valley Railways to improve their locomotives,” GE president for Africa operations Jay Ireland said.
