County aggregation parks projects worth billions stall

President William Ruto’s ambitious County Aggregation and Industrial Parks have stalled in at least 13 counties, the Auditor General has found.

In her report on county executives, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu cites, among other reasons, lack of funding by the county and national governments, land ownership and irregularities in their construction.

In line with President Ruto’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, CAIPs seek to grow Kenya’s manufacturing and investment through agro-industries and enhance productivity in agriculture.

They are expected to create jobs, increase incomes and foreign exchange, as well as provide a platform where farmers, processors, exporters, research institutions, industries and the government can engage for agro-industrial development.

The projects’ cost were to be split between the two levels of government.

However, Trade CS Lee Kinyanjui on Monday said none of the CAIPs was complete, and they were not expected to be complete by this time.

 “They are at various stages of completion. Some are at 80 per cent, 20 per cent and others at 40 per cent but different counties have different challenges,” CS Kinyanjui told Citizen TV.

He added that they are now moving from construction to “onboarding” so that they can get consumers.

 “We are working with Western region governors to have an investors’ conference so that we can onboard them… The role of the ministry is policy, awareness and ensuring Kenya has favourable trade agreements with the outside world. The biggest responsibility now is to ensure our farmers and producers are plugged to take advantage of these markets,” Kinyanjui said.

But the auditor found many of the CAIPs, including in Western, incomplete.

In Trans Nzoia, the industrial park at Namandala, Kwanza subcounty, is delayed. As at June 30, the contractor had been paid Sh264.2 million of the Sh499.2 million project cost.

The Sh49.5 million Avocado Aggregation Centre was, however, almost complete at 99 per cent though three months behind schedule.

In Kakamega, construction had begun and works were at substructure level. However, the land ownership documents in favour of the county executive were not provided for audit.

The county bought land for the centre in Likuyani subcounty at Sh133.5 million but there was no lease agreement.

 The industrial park in Busia has also delayed. While the project was to be completed on February 27, 2024, it was only 30 per cent complete in September 2024, despite two extensions.

The situation is the same in Siaya. Only Sh48.4 million had been paid for the Sh484 million project.

Homa Bay county allocated Sh100 million in 2022-2023 and the remaining Sh150 million in 2023-24 for the project but was still incomplete despite extensions given. The contractor cited floods, which led to work stoppages.

 In Kisii, the auditor said the MoU with the national government and the county ownership documents for the site were lacking. The inspection also flagged poor access road to the site that was in a swampy area or a wetland.

“In the circumstances, value for money realised on expenditure amounting to Sh95,588,294 could not be confirmed.”

 In the Coast region, Kilifi county failed to mobilise resources for the CAIP, despite signing a deal for the construction of the Sh515 million project.

While the national and county governments were to contribute Sh250 million each, Kilifi executive only set aside Sh42.8 million. The auditor also raised issue with an additional Sh15 million in the project cost, saying its source could not be established.

In Tana River, irregularities in the construction of the Sh113.5 million project in Chifiri were flagged.

While the Sh490 million cost was shared between the two levels of government, the national government had not made any contribution at the close of the year under review.

Nyandarua was to build the industrial park at Njambini Agricultural Training College at a cost of 464.4 million. But the auditor found that while the county had contributed Sh35.5 million, the national government had not paid any amount, thus stalling it.

The project was to be completed August 11, 2024, but remained incomplete as of September 2024 despite the contractor asking for an extension to December.

“In the circumstances, value for money spent on the project amounting to Kshs.35,526,100 could not be confirmed and management was in breach of the law,” the auditor said.

In Turkana, Sh100 million deposited in the project bank account had not been utilised.

In the circumstances, the county executive breached the law, and operationalisation of the industrial park could not be confirmed. There was also no title for the 100-acre parcel for the project site.

At the time of inspection on September 10, the project was incomplete with some materials on site, although the contractor was absent.

The Auditor General also flagged irregularities in construction of the centre in Nandi, which was budgeted at Sh520 million.

While the county paid Sh67.8 million towards the construction of the park, no works was going on during inspection in October 2024 except for curing of a recently completed section of one side of the perimeter wall.

Impeached DP Rigathi Gachagua last week blamed the stalling of the industrial parks on the removal of senior presidential adviser Moses Kuria from the Trade docket.

“Kuria is a brilliant mind and I can tell you this idea of CAIPs that he came up with,… had the President allowed him to stay as minister for Investment, Trade and Industry, today, those things would be working,” Gachagua said.

Kinyanjui, however, argued that the government would ensure completion.