Coming soon: Infinity Industrial Park

The rapid growth of local industries and increased investment in the country by foreign firms have prompted Mr Ashok Shah to invest in a Sh12 billion industrial park in Gathieko near the Eastern Bypass Kangudo Road junction.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the200-acre Infinity Industrial Park, which is to be completed in 2019, was held on October 14.  It will accommodate 800 to 1,000 small and medium industrial firms.

 “We are inviting only small and medium industries. Heavy chemical industries and hazardous chemical industries are not allowed in our park,” Mr Shah said, adding that the park was expected to international industrialists; one from the Middle East and a few from India have already acquired space.

The park will have an industrial section, as well as a commercial section that includes a shopping mall, a hospital, wholesale markets on 25 acres, and warehouses.

About 35 per cent of the one-acre industrial plots, which are going for Sh75 million, will sit on 100 acres

“The first phase of developing underground services and infrastructure has  started. We already have sewer connection, and it will take about 18 months to develop other basic amenities such as water and power  and a fibre optic network,” he said.

The industrial estate will be serviced by a 4-track railroad of the standard gauge railway from the Eastern Bypass.

He said it would take 24 months to develop the industrial park and 36 months to complete the shopping mall, hospital, wholesale market and other commercial places.

Mr Shah says he was prompted to develop the  park after establishing  an 11-acre one on Baba Dogo Road in 2012.

“I realised that industries are coming up at a very high rate, but they are scattered, especially on Thika Road, Ruiru, Kikuyu and Limuru, and that people are drilling boreholes to get the water and digging septic tanks to dump their industrial waste, which is harmful to the environment,” he said.

“I decided to develop a park that would meet the growing demand from the private sector, but which was more eco-friendly,” he offered. “I am very concerned about the environment, that is why I am developing this industrial park. Here we will have a solar energy park on 25acres, and a rainwater drainage network will be implemented as part of the project. We will also plants about 20,000

Mr Shah said the park  would be well managed and already  had a police post, while the establishment of other amenities like a fire brigade, power sub stations and recreation areas were underway.