Techno city developer to be named

GOVERNMENT

By Semaj Itosno, Nairobi, Kenya

The firm that will manage development of Kenya’s most ambitious technology project, Konza technology city, shall be unveiled next week.

The winning bidder to plan and manage the Sh10 billion Konza City infrastructure shall be picked from among six applicants, including Swedish Sweco International, AECOM International Development of Finland, ,Dohwa Consulting Engineers from Korea and HR & A Advisors and SHoP Architects, both based in New York.

The winning firm will sign a contract for five years with the Kenya government and is expected to come up with the plan in the first six months and thereafter attract and manage the development at the site for four-and-a-half years.

The firm will be answerable to the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KTDA), a public oversight body.

“The Kenya government is already putting up the required infrastructure such as power, water and road and the ground breaking ceremony is scheduled in the next three months,” said Dr Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Ndemo said the ground breaking for the project was supposed to take place in April 2012 and the delay was caused due to a need to re-plan the construction site design.  A legal notice creating the Konza Authority also took longer than necessary.

According to Ndemo, the winning firm will be responsible for designing a detailed “business plan and a partnership document of how the interested investors and the government will relate.”

He said the procurement exercise was completed two weeks ago but IFC had first to communicate to the bidders who lost.

“The government does not have the required expertise to manage such a project and that is why we had to recruit a firm that has experience to do so and this will see handing over the management from the inter –ministerial committees to the firm ” Dr Ndemo said.