[Source: Daily Nation, by Dennis Lubanga and Brian Ojamaa]
Plans to build the first ever multi-billion shillings industrial park in Bungoma are now in jeopardy after the county government disclosed that it lacks land for the project.
Whereas the investors who have shown interest in the development want 200 acres, the county government has less than 100 acres available for the project.
On Monday, the County Director of Communications Tim Machi told the Nation that there are about 90 acres of land in Webuye, part of which has been grabbed. He cited this as the main reason for the delay in implementing the project.
He indicated that about 50 Chinese investors had approached Governor Wycliffe Wangamati with an interest in the project but lack of adequate land had hampered their plans.
He said that the county government is racing against time to resolve the stalemate after the investors expressed willingness to set up shops immediately land is made available to them.
Last year, the county government announced that it had allocated Sh55 million for legal framework, feasibility study, policy formulation and public participation.
In May 2019, members of the county executive and MCAs took part in a four-day benchmarking trip to Uganda on the establishment of industrial parks.
The County Agriculture Executive Chirasha Makanda defended the Uganda trip saying that it was organised through the Ugandan High Commissioner to Kenya Phoebe Otaala as a follow-up to the 2018 tourism and culture exchange programme that saw attracted 100 delegates from Kenya.
Uganda has increasingly invested in cottage industries mainly targeting agro-processing sector in order to grow its economy, address the challenge of unemployment and cut reliance on imports from Kenya, which for years fed the landlocked country.
The Bungoma County government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute to design the Industrial Park.
Meanwhile, Mr Machi said that a county land task force has been set up to establish grabbed government land with a view of repossessing it for public use
The 17-member task force is chaired by former MP Lawrence Sifuna.
[Full article: Daily Nation, by Dennis Lubanga and Brian Ojamaa]
