Kenya is set to spend US $150m on a new clinker facility and a bulk grain handler. This is after the government partnered with the private sector for the construction to take place in Athi River and Embakasi respectively.
Transport Cabinet Secretary, James Macharia confirmed the reports and said that the two facilities which will be financed by the private sector will each produce four million tonnes. He further said that construction will commence sometime in September this year and will take about three years to complete.
The initiative will help reduce pressure on the US$ 228m inland container depot (ICD) in Embakasi which was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta last December. The ICD has capacity to handle 450,000 TEUs per year, up from its initial design of 180,000 TEUs.
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Clinker facility in Athi River
“We are developing a clinker facility in Athi River and a bulk grain in Embakasi, Nairobi and the two facilities will give us four million tonnes each,” said Mr.James Macharia.
The ICD in Embakasi currently receives four trains on a daily basis each carrying 108 containers and ferrying a total of 432 containers to the ICD.Earlier this year, The National Cement Company invested a whooping US $280m to build a clinker plant in Kajiado County.
The clinker plant, with a capacity of manufacturing 1.2 million metric tonnes per year, is set to employ 700 directly and provide thousands more jobs indirectly in a move that supports the government’s effort to create quality jobs for Kenyans through expansion of the manufacturing sector.
