Hope

A multi billion shilling steel plant is upcoming in Kenya as high consumption of steel-related products in the country and region is being witnessed.

The new steel plant is set to be constructed following the penning of an agreement between Kenya and Sinosteel – the company will undertake the investment.

The new steel plant will see the country quell an expected demand of 2.5 million metric tonnes for steel per year. Kenya is anticipating that the demand will double shoot by 2030, according to Adan Mohamed, the now Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization and Enterprise Development.

The steel plant will need coal, in addition to other raw materials – iron ore deposits – found in many parts of the country like; Meru, Kitui, Taita Taveta, Homa Bay and Kakamega.

In 2013, Kenya still had a shortfall on the amount of steel even after importing about 1.8 million Metric tonnes of steel. Thus, the new steel plant might help reduce importation.

Tanzania has announced a bid to construct a railway network at the cost of US$ 15bn. this is according to Tanzania transport Minister Mr. Samuel Sitta. The Minister said that this will constitute the largest single project to be undertaken by the country since independence.

The railway project will see Dar connected to Rwanda and Burundi through a 2,561 km standard gauge railway line. This will be constructed at US$ 8bn.

As part of the larger plan, other two railway lines will be constructed to hook Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining regions in the South and North, which will spend US$ 7bn.

The railway network will see Tanzania compete with Kenya, which is rehabilitating the Mombasa port and undertaking a lot of other infrastructure projects to open itself to more business. Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are also planning on a connection via a railway network.