Water and Sanitation Principal Secretary Julius Korir has said the Kinanie Leather Industrial Park is ready for operations.

Korir said the Sh5 billion state-funded project in Kinanie, Mavoko, Machakos County, is expected to create about 50,000 jobs.

"This Kinanie Leather Industrial Park was an idea we conceptualised in 2014. A dream that we started to have an industrial park that will transform Kenya's leather sector is now becoming a reality," Korir said.

The PS spoke on Thursday during the commissioning of the Sh370 million Kinanie Water Supplies project at the leather park.

He said all the key infrastructure required for the park's operations, including water, roads and electricity, had been completed.

"That dream needed enablers; roads, electricity and water. We are now here to provide water. We spent Sh370 million to implement the water project. We finished the project in early May," Korir said.

Korir was accompanied by Tanathi Water Works Development Agency (TAWWDA) CEO Sammy Naporos, TAWWDA board chairperson Regina Ndambuki, National Irrigation Authority (NIA) chairman Gilbert Maluki, Machakos County Executive Committee Member for Water Onesmus Kuyu, and Mavoko Water and Sanitation Company (MAVWASCO) managing director Raphael Mutie.

"We have two boreholes already drilled, giving us 700 cubic meters of water per day. Connecting this park to the main trunk line from Export Processing Zone, connecting Northern connector in Mavoko 28 kilometres from here," Korir said.

"My message to Kenyans is that the Kinanie Leather Industrial Park is ready. There are a few investors who have come in. We have lots of projects we are implementing in Machakos. We urge our colleagues from the Ministry of Industrialisation to now accelerate investors to come here," Korir added.

The Kinanie Leather Industrial Park is a joint venture between the Kenya Leather Development Council (KLDC) and the Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA).

Korir said the project is part of President William Ruto's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which aims to transform the country's leather sector.

He said the goal is to shift Kenya from exporting raw "wet" leather to producing finished leather products and shoes.

Korir said the government was also implementing several other projects in Machakos and across the country.

He cited the completed Machakos Town Water Supply and Sewerage projects and said work was at the final stage of settling project-affected persons to pave the way for construction of the Muongoni Dam.

Korir said the government had repaired Mamba Dam and was working on water treatment to increase water supply in Machakos town.

He also said the Mwala water project was 90 per cent complete.

According to the PS, water projects implemented under President Ruto's administration in Machakos County are valued at Sh3.7 billion.

TAWWDA CEO Sammy Naporos said the commissioning of the Kinanie Water Supplies project would support socio-economic transformation in the area, particularly through industrialisation.

He said the project comprises 25 kilometres of pipeline and an additional 5.5 kilometres of internal distribution lines.

"We need 3,000 cubic meters of water per day. The current volume is 700 cubic meters per day. We have to serve 36 tanneries that are being established here. The journey to Singapore is real with industrialisation and water," Naporos said.

Machakos County Water executive Onesmus Kuyu said he was optimistic that the county would become self-sufficient in water and sewerage services through ongoing government projects.

"This isn't only the project that the Ministry of Water has done. We have running and other proposed projects in almost all the sub-counties. People should know that we have 48 governments in one, and that's coming to reality," Kuyu said.