[kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?

Thu Feb 9 08:17:18 EAT 2012

Hi,

Konza = public land = freeze by Orengo = national lands commissioner = spanner in the works

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/1323050/-/56yje2z/-/index.html 

Regards

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya

Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

________________________________
 From: Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke>
To: 'robert yawe' <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> 
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Sent: Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 11:06
Subject: RE: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?

Robert

I can’t argue with your points…

We need realists. However having said that the suggestion would be to not shy aware from such developments but to ensure that mechanisms are put in place that we don’t have another Buruburu, Dandora on our hands.

Guys, it’s good to be skeptical but its better still to offer solutions to avoid such eventualities. That’s why Risk Management will be a critical aspect of such potentially paradigm shifting endeavors.

Robert, we need your contrarian view points. Please do not lose that..

PS. I am old enough to know what happened in Eastlands…J

Ali Hussein|Managing Partner

Telemedia Africa
Azania Technology Group
Chaka Court, Argwings Kodhek Road
P O Box  14556-00100
+254 773/713 601113
Nairobi, Kenya

Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo

From:robert yawe [mailto:robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 10:40 AM
To: Ali Hussein
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?

Hussein,

Interesting that you bring up Buru Buru where I lived from the age of 5 years, when there where picket fences, kids swings, slides and nanny parks, until I left at the age of 18 when there were 7 foot stone fences with broken glass toppings, churches and bars in the places where I once swung, metal sheet granny houses and even entire houses demolished and replaced with beacon to beacon multi story structures.

Living in Buru Buru & going to school in Eastleigh I commuted from 1st Avenue, through Juja Road and then down Outer Ring Road watching the landscape change.  I watched as Huruma went from a lovely middle class development to what it is today, Dandora transformed from a well thought out cluster development to the multi story structures you see today and then Umoja which well there is nothing to explain it.

All this happened right under the nose of a President, UNEP, Habitat, City Council of Nairobi, AAK, ISK, IEK, UON, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Public Works, Parliament, Kenya Airforce and many others who could have stopped the carnage.  

Go to the areas around Konza, or just read the classifieds in the dailies, and watch the subdivision of plots from the initial seven acre parcels to plots of as small as an eight of an acre (50 x 100).  We are already replicating Nairobi only that now it is being done in reverse, beginning with the surrounding slums and hopefully end with the glassy skyscrapers.  

The road to Konza shall be literally lined with slums and shanties, then we shall have proposals to allow helipads, overpasses, windowless high speed trains and overhead cable cars to get the investors in and out of the technopolis without exposing them to the unsightly developments.

Also lets not forget that we have been unable to handle national projects to date yet we had a central government, come sometime in August 2013 we shall have 47 little governments all with their specific interests and agendas, what is the likelihood that Konza will get the support required to make it work?

Imagine Buru Buru happened to an estate that was fully developed, I saw it and you and many might be too young to have lived through the destruction of a brilliant project but I was, so maybe you can now better understand my skepticism when it comes to our ability as a nation to control the development of a 5,000 acre piece of empty piece land.

I am not a pessimist I am a realist, let the dreamers prove me wrong when I have history backing my position.

Regards

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

________________________________

From:Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke>
To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> 
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 19:02
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?

Robert

I would like to be more optimistic about Konza. 

What you are describing is a Buruburu type land grab and I'm sure that isn't what was intended for Konza.

Have some faith my brother... In fact I think Robert there is room for speculation... Though I suspect not in the way we are used to... Think Speculation 3.0 with a dash of new tech... :)

Ali Hussein
Managing Partner
Telemedia Africa
Azania Technology Group 
+254 773/713 601113

"You generally hear that what a man doesn't know doesn't hurt him, but in business what a man doesn't know does hurt.". - E. St. Elmo Lewis, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

On Feb 7, 2012, at 3:14 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
@Walu,
> 
>In short what the AG said was that government land cannot be assigned to an individual or entity but must be offered to the general public.  The statement was initially targeted at the Airtel/Postal/IBM deal of the plot opposite Yaya Centre but it spoke volumes as it gave a precedent for the way forward as relates to government land.
> 
>Konza is government land and is and will be governed by the law of the land as relates to such resource, therefore if Microsoft wanted to put up a campus in Konza on a 20 acre plot the government would have to tender for its sell.
> 
>At which point Yawe and Co-speculators Inc. will tender and likely win as we shall play the nationalist, county and tribe card.  We will then offer the same land to Microsoft at an inflated price who will reject the offer and opt to locate to the Lakeview Techno City next to RIAT with views from the largest fresh water lake offering water sports.  
> 
>My group and I will then subdivide the 20 acres into broty of 50 x 100 and sell them to the public to recover our investment.  Visit the area around Bamburi and London Distillers in Athi River/Mavoko area for a living and breathing example of what Konza will look like by the year 2020, it is even more pronounced from GoogleEarth.  
> 
>That was the initial location of the EPZ before it was felt necessary to relocate the same 2 kilometres down the road into Rift Valley Province.  The architect of that relocation is an aspiring presidential candidate, what stops him from relocating Konza if he wins the election?
> 
>Let us not blind ourselves to the reality and return to the Kenya we know, the EPZ continues to struggle many years later, JKIA remains with hundreds of empty plots still being held onto by prospective investors who where allocated the land over 30 years ago, Baba Dogo is turning into a large residential area and the KIE sheds in Industrial Area have become stores.
> 
>Runda Closeburn will definitely fly, Tatu will limp along for a while but Konza will be a still birth.
> 
> 
>What is the strategy for Konza and can someone answer these questions for us?
>            will the land be sold to prospective investors better known as speculators or leased to investors?
>            will the government allocate the land to prospective investors a.k.a Karurarists?
>            how long will it take to develop the infrastructure noting that Nairobi still cannot provide sufficient water, sewerage services and electricity to its residents 200 years down the road?
>            when the infrastructure is complete and the land allocated how long will it be before the first tenant moves in?
>            if the first tenant moves in sometime around 2030 will the concept still be viable?
>            is the rest of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Maldives sleeping?
>            once Raila becomes President, after beating a joint force of Kalonzo, Uhuru & Ruto, what is the likelihood that he will allow that level of national resources to be spent in that region instead of relocate the same to for example Nyanza where there is already an International Airport, is closer to Southern Sudan, the residents speak fluent english plus has english like names to boot, it is a marginalized county (highest child mortality rate) and it gave him their vote as a block?
> 
>Until we get a comprehensive report from the various players i.e. treasury, ministry of information, ministry of lands, AG's Chambers, local government, county representatives and the President the project shall remain as dead as a dodo irrespective of how many flashy advertisements are run by a sub-entity of a sub-entity of a substantial participant in the project.
> 
>Walu, in your case which ever way it goes nothing affects your setting up a lab, but if I was the University I would look at putting up an entire self sufficient campus.
> 
>Regards
> 
>PS.  China government is to build 1000 houses in Kisumu plus any other projects that they deem necessary to giving Kisumu the status becoming of a City.
> 
>Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>
>________________________________
>
>From:Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
>To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> 
>Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
>Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 11:04
>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?
> 
>@Yawe,
>
>u seem to b on the inside loop on this one.  Konza City, scuttled?  I had advised my boss to book a university lab there and now I might need guidance on what next? 
>
>And thats me as a local stakeholder, what of the international stakeholders - what would they make of your statement?
>
>walu.
>
>--- On Mon, 2/6/12, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>From: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...
>To: jwalu at yahoo.com
>Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>Date: Monday, February 6, 2012, 5:25 PM
>Listers,
> 
>Are we seriously having this discussion, please leave certification to institutes of education such as Universities who already issue degrees in computer science and the like.
> 
>This is just another tax guzzling scheme like the Konza adverts being run on TV yet the AG has already scuttled the project, 
> 
>We are aware that all the great software applications developed over the past 3 decades have been done by enthusiasts or as Philip Ochieng recently clarified amateurs, a situation that is not about to change any time soon.
> 
>KICT eat in peace.
> 
>Regards
> 
>PS.  Liko lets go look for something more productive to do with our time, wachana na mambo ya certification na business plans.  
> 
>Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>
>________________________________
>
>From:Agosta Liko <agostal at gmail.com>
>To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk 
>Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
>Sent: Sunday, 5 February 2012, 14:00
>Subject: [kictanet] Weird Things ...
> 
>Samsung launched its 2nd Engineering Academy with a local Educational Institution
>
>The ICT Board on the other hand is working with a Foreign Institution to launch a Kenyan software development certification
>
>:)
>
>
>
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>
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