Kenya to hold int'l investment conference

Kenya is planning to host an international investment conference from Nov. 22 to 25 to attract investors for projects, including expansion of airports, railway, tourism, roads, dams and energy projects.

Kenya Investment Authority Managing Director Moses Ikiara said the investment summit would present investors with "business unusual plans" in wind energy, solar power, nuclear power plants and long-term projects in the oil, gas and geothermal sectors.

"We would like investors to take opportunities in these projects because Kenya is a growing economy with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) currently at 58 billion U.S. dollars and growing at 6.5 percent," Ikiara said in Nairobi during a weekend investment forum attended by Kenyan and Norwegian investors.

Kenya is targeting investors to take opportunities in the development of tourism facilities along its 500km-long Indian Ocean coastline, which has the potential to attract more visitors because of the existing cultural diversity and a thriving business.

Ikiara said the taxation environment, with corporate tax at 30 percent for resident companies and value added tax of 16 percent, the country has a favourable investment scene for international firms to operate locally.

The largest project to be unveiled during the conference include the re-construction of existing railway stations to include business parks for light manufacturing, hotels and shopping arcades at a cost of 2.15 billion dollars.

Other projects include the construction of additional berths at the Lamu Port, and construction of 140 megawatt geothermal power generation at OlKaria in Naivasha, 100 km outside Nairobi, at a cost of 554 million dollars.

The World Bank projects the economic growth and new foreign investments would fire the Kenyan economy to a higher GDP rate to reach 69.9 billion dollars this year. Endit