Japan to Borrow Kenya $860 million to boost Infrastructure

Japan has announced nearly 860 million U.S. dollar in concessional loans and grants for construction in Kenya. This is to boost infrastructure in the port city of Mombasa and other projects to support an economic zone there. Japan’s ambassador to Kenya, Katsutoshi Komori told a news conference that a loan of about 450 million US dollar will go towards building a 1.3 km bridge linking Mombasa’s mainland to an island in the city. Another 350 million U.S. dollar loan and a 57 million U.S. dollars grant will go towards developing a port, road, electricity and water supply and drainage in the special economic zone known as Dongo Kundu in Mombasa. Japan is looking to boost its investment in Africa, much as its rival China has been doing for years. At a conference in Tokyo last month attended by a few dozen African leaders, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would expand its private-sector investment in Africa, which came to $20 billion U.S. dollar over the past three years. The port city of Mombasa is a gateway to east and central Africa. It processes imports and exports for Kenya and several other countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Burundi.  Ferries between the mainland and island in the city carry about 300,000 people a day, and they are usually congested with both human and vehicle traffic. Once the economic zone is complete - work is expected to begin in 2021 and take four years - it will have the capacity to employ 27,000 people in various businesses, especially in manufacturing, the government has said. Friday’s agreements comes days after President Uhuru Kenyatta cancelled a dam project - Kimwarer - whose 22.2 billion shilling cost was found to be overpriced and which was also financially unviable. He allowed a second - Arror- to be built for a maximum 15.4 billion shillings, down from a previously overpriced 28.3 billion shillings. Henry Rotich, the previous finance minister, was removed from his post in July after he and other senior officials were charged with corruption here over the misuse of funds for building two dams. He has denied the charges and was freed on bail. Yatani ruled out any possibility of the costs of the bridge and economic zone being inflated.