June 8 - The growing East African economy has drawn interest from various multinational companies keen on taking a piece of the infrastructure development pie, says Kenya's Siginon Global Logistics.

Infrastructure-wise, the Kenyan budget is the highest within the East Africa region at USD40 billion - approximately three times its annual budget. Since 2002, the Kenyan government has taken up ambitious infrastructure projects, which in 2008 culminated in the launch of the Kenya Vision 2030 blueprint that seeks to position Kenya as a middle-income country by the year 2030.

Some of the projects in the Vision 2030 include creation of highways, cities, port expansion, and oil and gas exploitation, all geared at boosting the Kenyan economy.

China in particular has played a great role in most of the Kenya infrastructure projects through funding as well as in providing expertise and technology transfer. Most notable was the construction of the 50 km long Thika super highway that was completed in 2012.

The logistics industry in Kenya has seen a spike in business boosted by the increase of imports of project related cargo by air or through sea, commented Lawrence Mangarunyi, divisional manager at Siginon Global Logistics.

Siginon Group managing director Meshack Kipturgo explained that in the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project, there is a lot of construction equipment and implements being imported into Kenya to facilitate the construction, most of which is oversize cargo that requires specialised equipment as well as trained personnel.

 

Kenya's Thika highway.

 

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