19 teams set up for next phase of Vision 2030

Photo/FILE

The Vision 2030 teams will be unveiled on Wednesday at Kenyatta International Conference Centre and will be in office for the next five years.

What you need to know:

  • The first phase covered the 2008-2012 period and is said to have faced financial and technical challenges that the second phase will seek to resolve.
  • Most of the flagship projects envisaged in the first phase are at various stages of implementation and include the Lapsset project — the road, rail, oil pipeline connecting the Kenya coast at Lamu with Ethiopia and South Sudan.
  • Others include the Thika superhighway, now completed; and the Northern and Eastern by-pass, which are 52 per cent complete.

The government has established 19 groups to steer the second implementation phase of Vision 2030, even as questions remain on the success of the first phase.

The teams will be unveiled on Wednesday at Kenyatta International Conference Centre and will be in office for the next five years.

The first phase covered the 2008-2012 period and is said to have faced financial and technical challenges that the second phase will seek to resolve.

“We envisaged private sector participation but the government has ended up using funds to implement some of the projects.

"There seemed to be fear by the private sector and that is why we formulated the public-private partnership Bill to guide such investors,” Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya said on Tuesday.

He said the next phase would give priority to job creation, poverty reduction and enhancing equality in development.

The working groups are drawn from the government, private sector, women, youth, professional groups, NGOs, religious groups and financiers.

The team will look beyond the economy to issues touching on social and political aspects of Vision 2030.

The minister said most of the flagship projects envisaged in the first phase are at various stages of implementation that include various corridors like Lapsset project — the road, rail, oil pipeline connecting the Kenya coast at Lamu with Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Others include the Thika superhighway, now completed; and the Northern and Eastern by-pass, which are 52 per cent complete.

The promulgation of the Constitution on August 27, 2010 is a major achievement in the political pillar.

This was followed by enactment of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Reforms in the Judiciary are also part of the achievements meant to create a democratic political system.

An agreement has been signed for a standard gauge railway between Kenya and Uganda, while 1097 km of roads have been rehabilitated, against a target of 1369 km.

The country has connected 250,185 more people to the national grid against a target of 200,000.

Economic growth had registered 4.5 per cent against a target of 10 per cent, while inflation has stayed above the target of 5 per cent.

The economy, however, continued to produce fewer jobs, creating 503,500 against a target of 740,000 every year.