Establishment of an export processing zone in Taita Taveta will promote value addition and boost use of local raw materials, Governor Granton Samboja has noted. The County is set to benefit from a five hundred million dollar grant from China for the establishment of an Export Processing Zone Industry in the region with prospects of a steel processing plant on the pipeline. Governor Samboja successfully wooed investors from China who will also invest in agricultural and livestock value addition factories.
“Soon our people will understand the true meaning of devolution. I have successfully engaged the investors who will partner with us in the projects. We have a big potential in both industrial and gemstone minerals while our vast ranches will reap big through these investments,” he says.
In the deal, the County Government has been tasked with identifying and providing a 500 acre piece of land for the industries out of which 300 acres will be used to set up the steel plant, while 200 acres is required for the EPZ. “My government will work with other stakeholders to make the land available for the investments,” Governor Samboja assured the investors when the delegation from China paid him a courtesy call at his Wundanyi office.
“The industries will improve our economy, create jobs for our people and consequently improve our people’s livelihoods. Industrial development is the way to go," says Samboja. The investors are interested in working in the county due to its close proximity to the port of Mombasa, the SGR that cuts through the county, the availability of iron ore at Kishushe and availability of water from Lake Challa and Njoro springs for irrigation. The fact that Taita Taveta is a disease free zone also made the county the preferred destination for the investors.