Pursuing the Konza dream of a ‘Silicon Savannah’ for Africa

An artist's impression of the Konza Technology City. The $14.5bn project will place Kenya ahead of other African countries once the technology hub, which will be built about 60km from the capital, Nairobi, takes off. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • It is estimated that the entire project will be ready in about 20 years.
  • The recent entry of multinational companies, such as IBM, Intel, Google and Microsoft, and the emergence of research hubs has supported new incubators and spruced the IT sector.

Transforming the dusty plains of Konza into Africa’s “Silicon Savannah” – a software designers’ hub, meant to be a centre for IT specialists and a saucepan for the ICT investor, is going to be the country’s game changer.

While there is still little glitz over the plain, besides the perimeter wall - and controversy – the $14.5bn project will place Kenya ahead of other African countries once the Konza Technology City, which will be built about 60km from the capital, Nairobi, takes off.


It is estimated that the entire project will be ready in about 20 years, and will create close to 20,000 jobs by 2015 and an estimated 200,000 jobs, when fully commissioned in 2030.


The recent entry of multinational companies, such as IBM, Intel, Google and Microsoft, and the emergence of research hubs has supported new incubators and spruced the IT sector.

External investors

Today, the sector accounts for five per cent of the country’s GDP with exports touching the $360-million mark last year as opposed to $16-million some 10 years ago.

The justification of the Konza project is to improve Kenya’s Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) industry and create opportunities for local investors, attracting external investors, supporting start-up incubation and jobs for locals.


The reason Konza City is driving on the right lane is supported by an emerging trend in Africa where smart phones are now outselling computers, thus giving software developers a challenge and an opportunity to cash in on the new craze.

In a continent with over 650-million cellphone subscribers, the Konza project hopes to take advantage of the numbers projected to rise to a billion in the next two years.


But besides targeting Africa, the Konza technology city will target the local market, which has an estimated 17-million subscribers and has of late surprised the technology industry with the overly successful mobile-money service.

Other recent successes include iHub’s super computer project and BRCK, an internet back-up modem, developed by crowd-sourcing software company, Ushahidi.


It is such innovations that will be the drivers of the Konza project once it gets off the ground. While launching the project in January, then President Mwai Kibaki said it was part of the Vision 2030 initiative to improve the country’s infrastructure over the next 18 years.

“It is expected to spur massive trade and investment as well as create thousands of employment opportunities for young Kenyans in the ICT sector,” said Kibaki.


Built on a 5,000-acre ranch, the new city is geared to attract light assembly manufacturing industries, data centres, business process outsourcing, software development and disaster recovery centres.


Already, the government has established the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KOTDA), the body to oversee the building of the city under Public Private Partnerships.

Although the government, through KOTDA, will take minimal role, it has already promised to build the necessary infrastructure for the city and will guide the development as per the agreed master plan.


But Konza city is already facing teething problems and in June 2013, the Ministry of Lands and Housing was forced to suspend its operations to allow for consensus with the landowners, Konza Ranching Society and Malili Co-operative Societies, who are claiming that the government had locked them out of the physical planning exercise, especially on the two and 10-kilometre buffer zones next to the city.


Another threat that has slowed down the techno city project is a new tussle between the Makueni and Machakos counties, which are claiming ownership of the city.

In July, this year, the physical planning director had published a zoning plan for Konza, triggering confusion on the county boundaries.

The new plan had placed Konza City in Machakos while a separate document in the Ministry of Lands puts a large portion of the city in Makueni County, with Machakos and Kajiado enjoying a 10km buffer zone.


This has left the ICT Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i spearheading talks to resolve the issue and also streamline the legal process.


Dr Matiang’i has said that the affected counties of Makueni, Machakos and Kajiado will have uniform bylaws to prevent slums which would undermine the international investors’ appeal for Konza.


Architectural plans

“The bylaws are aimed at preventing the proliferation of informal settlements near the 5,000-acre park and set standards which should be adhered to by investors outside the Konza City,” said Dr Matiang’i.


At the moment, more than 300 investors and business partners have shown interest in directing massive resources in Konza Techno City.


The development model puts third parties at the centre of its execution with the government offering the land, legal backing and architectural plans. When complete, with the first phase set for completion in 2017, it is expected to employ 16,200 workers.


The government will also establish a two-kilometre park around the city to be run by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Konza has been designed by the same company that did Brooklyn’s Barclays Centre in New York City.

In a recent interview, the designers, Shop Architects, told the UK’s Financial Times that “the scale of the project compares with creating another Manhattan, central London or inner-city Beijing.”


Investors have been scrambling to buy land near the project that has seen the price surge from Sh200,000 per acre when the government bought the land four years ago to Sh7 million per acre now.


President Uhuru Kenyatta, taking cue from Kibaki before him, has urged foreign investors to explore opportunities within the Konza project during his tour of China this year.


In a recent official visit to the East, President Uhuru Kenyatta pressed China to invest in the project. Already, the government has started digging five boreholes at the site, putting a police post and is expected to build a power station.

The power project is set to generate 20 megawatts of power using two turbines. Phase three and four involve development of irrigation canals, off-take facilities from the dam and rural water supply schemes.


It has also allocated Sh1.3 billion for the project during the 2013/2014 financial year.

For the construction of the Thwake Dam, which will supply water to the city, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has donated Sh8.5 billion according to Gabriel Negatu, the AfDB regional director of the East African Resource Centre.

The financing agreements have been finalised and the construction is set to commence next year.


Thwake Dam is expected to cover an area of approximately 7,166 acres, and span Makueni and Kitui counties. Part of the IDB money will be used to compensate land owners affected by the dam construction.


Another measure taken to attract the investors includes a raft of tax incentives including stamp duty on land. Also, the investors, both local and foreign, are set to receive tax exemption from income for the first 10 years.

Foreign firms, which would want to have a share of the cake, should be incorporated in Kenya to get a trading licence. The trading rules set for Konza says in part:


“An applicant for licence to carry out business at Konza Technopolis City will be a limited liability company incorporated in Kenya (whether or not it is one hundred per cent foreign owned), (a Kenyan registered branch of a foreign company, or a partnership registered in Kenya) with the purpose of undertaking the activity sought to be undertaken in the Konza Technopolis.”


The companies that have shown interest include Chinese Huawei Technologies, Korean electronics giant Samsung, Telemac of the US, Research in Motion (RIM), now Blackberry Ltd. Others are Google, Craft Silicon and Telemax Technology Corporation of Taiwan.


Some 15 local companies were at the ground-breaking ceremony and they announced their interest in the project. Some of these are Safaricom, Wananchi Online, Nairobi Hospital, Kari, Kemri, University of Nairobi, MultiMedia University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology.


It is expected that Konza will be a Special Economic Zone and will replace the current Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and hopefully create more than 200,000 jobs directly and indirectly.


Konza remains one of the most ambitious of the Vision 2030 plan to transform Kenya into a middle-income economy. Other plans on the table include the construction of the Lamu port and transport corridor to South Sudan and Ethiopia.


Big city, airports and universities

But why should the Konza Techno City be based outside the capital? Pundits, including the KOTDA Acting CEO, Dr Catherine Adeya, say the location was informed by the Booz Hamilton Principal, where such techno parks tend to be located within driving distances near a big city, airports and universities.


At the moment, Nairobi has continued to attract international ICT firms such as IBM, which recently established a Research Lab, the first of its kind in Africa.


Konza is no doubt an ambitious plan. Once complete it will place Kenya at the apex of other African nations especially in the technology sector.


“Konza will become a game-changer in Kenya’s socio-economic development, spurring massive trade and investment across the entire region,” said President Kibaki at the groundbreaking ceremony.


When all is done, Konza will have a modern business processing outsourcing (BPO) park, a science park, convention centre, mega mall, data centres, world class hotels, local and international schools, world class hospitals, a championship golf course, and a financial district.


In less than two decades, the plains of Malili will have changed the economic matrix of the nation - a silicon savannah will emerge.