Transport shuffle

On the infrastructure front, Transport Minister Amos Kimunya too is looking at a reformed public transport industry in the new year. He has issued a warning to operators of 14-seater vehicles, normally called matatus (public minivans) that come in January, that they should get off the roads.

The minister blames the vehicles for the enervating congestion and indiscipline on the Nairobi roads. To replace the matatus, Kimunya has asked the operators to buy buses.

The operators agree.

"It has reached a time when it has become uneconomical to have 14-seater vehicles," said Simon Kimutai, of the Matatu Owners Association. Buses, Kimutai said, are the prime answer.

But the drivers and conductors of the matatus are up in arms. They say, they're going to lose jobs and some, like their spokesperson Dickson Mbugua, insist that, despite the ultimatum issued three months in advance, they need more time to pay off loans for the vehicles they are operating.

But Kimunya is of the view that the government has to wrest control of the crucial sector from the cartel-like operators. He said the objective is to streamline public transport through the full implementation of the Integrated National Transport Policy. Kenyans are waiting to see how this pans out.

The minister said the Highway Code will have to be worked on and now plans to install cameras on major roads to curb careless driving.

The roads too are high up on the government's agenda. The fact that bad roads lead to higher fuel costs, higher vehicle maintenance costs, longer travel times and the attendant stress on productivity seems to have dawned on the government. Nearly 80 percent of Kenya's transport is done on the roads.

Michael Kamau, Permanent Secretary in charge of roads [in the Ministry of Roads], said that "regional connectivity" is a priority this year.

Kenya's roads to Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia will also be expanded.

"We have Cabinet authority to demolish any property in Kenya that's on a road reserve," Kamau said.

Already, Thika Road is being remodeled from two lanes to eight lanes, a superhighway connecting the capital Nairobi and the industrial Thika town. The project cost is Sh24 billion ($300 million) and even though it's six months behind schedule, it is expected to be ready by the last quarter of next year.

The road, together with the three other roads that ring the city – bypasses-to prevent drivers and commuters from passing through the Central Business District are expected to ease transportation in Nairobi.

With the prospects of oil in Uganda and Southern Sudan, Kenya is gearing to get a piece of the expected windfall. By constructing a railway line to Juba, a pipeline to Uganda and a port at Lamu, Kenya hopes to make money out of its strategic positioning in the region.

Attracting funding

But to build all these requires money and the country is busy borrowing from the domestic market, courting billionaire-investors with mouth-watering tax cuts and is also toying with the idea of issuing a sovereign bond.

Also, Kenya is keen on improving its ratings, at least in the eyes of the donors, by sealing the corruption loopholes and minimizing government wastage.

Similarly, there's the state-of-the-art business park set to open in the first quarter of the year. The Sh2 billion ($25 million) park is built on an 8.8 acre piece of land and will house technology and finance powerhouses from across the world.

The Sameer Business Park is hoped to be the answer to international corporate clients, whose zeal and will to invest in the country and in the continent have been hampered by lack of quality office space. The complex has an estimated 500,000 square feet (45,000 square meters) of office space for showrooms and retail space.

Increased investment into the energy sector is also on the government's plate for 2011. The rising demand for power has forced the government to look to wind and geothermal to supplement the hydropower generation. By June, the government hopes to have set up a wind farm in Turkana, with a capacity to generate 300 MW of electricity. But this depends on whether the private investor putting up the plant will get the money. The potential for wind power in the country is estimated at 2,000 MW, but only 5.1 MW are being generated by the Kenya Electricity Generating Co. at Ngong' Hills.

That's Kenya's agenda in 2011. It must be done if the country is to live its dream. If not, then it won't happen in 2012 because that's an election year where every politician and policymaker thinks about self-preservation.

(Reporting from Kenya)