[kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?

Fri Feb 10 13:33:57 EAT 2012

Since it seems people don't like doing homework, here is an excerpt from
the Konza Summary document's Legal section that might address some of the
property issues already raised:

LAND ACqUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT

Pursuant to the provisions of the new Constitution, all existing land laws
will be revised, consolidated and rationalized and this will significantly
affect the manner in which land in Kenya may be acquired, utilised and
disposed. For instance, under the new Constitution, all public land
(including land owned by the state or state agencies) will be vested in the
National Land Commission. The Constitution further provides that public
land may only be used or disposed in terms of an Act of Parliament
specifying the nature and terms of that disposal or use. It is therefore
necessary that the SEZ law grant express powers to the SEZ authority to
dispose land acquired by it for SEZ purposes in such manner as it may deem
necessary in order to achieve the objectives of the SEZ law.

With regard to development of SEZ land, it will be necessary to harmonize
the physical planning laws and the SEZ law to ensure that the objectives of
the SEZ policy are taken into account in developing regional and local
development plans and in granting development approvals. It will also be
important to harmonize the roles of the different regulators involved in
this process (such as the local authorities, the physical planning
department and the Commissioner of Lands).

PROjECT DEVELOPMENT
The Government intends to develop the project under the PPP Framework. The
existing PPP framework sets out an elaborate procedure for the approval of
PPP arrangements (including approval by cabinet) and these have significant
time and cost implications which will need to be taken into account in
planning the project schedule. In addition, the relevant decision makers
will need to be satisfied that the project meets the overall objectives of
the PPP framework before approving the proposed PPP arrangements.

Regarding ownership of the project, it is possible for the Government to
transfer the land and the development of the project to a separate entity
e.g. a state corporation incorporated under the State Corporations Act and
the Companies Act or a development authority incorporated by statute. This
entity can then, as a separate legal entity, perform the role of developer
or appoint a master developer, and in the future, be able to act as the
‘landlord’ to charge levies and maintain standards of construction and
maintenance of the developments.

The advantages of this are that a State Corporation can be set up fairly
quickly; the project can be run by an autonomous body (although this will
still be subject to PPP law, procurement law etc.); the autonomous body can
have private participation in the future (by way of shareholders,
independent directors etc); and this body can be financially independent
from Government (save for the shareholding or ownership of the body by
Government). Further consultations and advice needs to be taken if this
option is to be considered by Government

INCENTIVE FRAMEWORK
The SEZ bill proposes various procedural and fiscal incentives. Some of
these, particularly the fiscal incentives will need to be incorporated into
the existing tax legislation in order to bring them into effect. More
importantly, it is important to bear in mind the provisions of the
multilateral treaties that Kenya has ratified, as these cannot be easily
amended.

The other issue to bear in mind is that under the new Constitution, county
governments may be able to impose additional taxation over and above that
imposed by the national government. In this regard, the national government
will need to educate county governments on the general objectives of SEZ
program in order to ensure that the taxation policies established at county
level do not defeat the objectives of the SEZ program. That said, it could
be argued that the SEZ program is a matter of national importance and to
that extent any laws passed at county level that are inconsistent with the
SEZ law will be superseded by the SEZ law.

----------------------------------------------------------

I would imagine that the above, at a minimum, should at least indicate that
a significant amount of thought and planning has gone into this project and
that lessons learnt from past "white elephants" have been applied.
Nevertheless - as they say - the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Let
us hope, pray and do our best to ensure that actions related to Konza are
well executed.

Best regards,

Brian

On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 1:13 PM, Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe at gmail.com>
wrote:
> In view of establishing whether people are in possession of knowledge
> before they make remarks it might also help to go through the publicly
> available and well written documents that are/have been available
> online at:
>
> http://www.konzacity.co.ke/?page_id=2355
>
> Especially the "Summary Document"
>
> Mblayo
>
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 12:50 PM, S.M. Muraya <murigi.muraya at gmail.com>
wrote:
>> At a Konza City briefing some months ago, the Kengen MD said they have an
>> energy plan for the city. Forgot the specifics.
>>
>> My speculation (this is not what the Kengen MD said) coal mining in
Eastern
>> Kenya is going to contribute to powering Konza City.
>>
>> Some Water Authority was there too - talking about supply of water and
if I
>> remember well there was also talk of hydro power.
>>
>> Whether Foreigners show up at Konza City or not is immaterial to some of
us.
>> They will value add if they do show up. We need to provide a good working
>> environment for Kenyan Technologists. We do not have to build good things
>> just to attract Foreigners. We are the ones living in Kenya. We can love
>> ourselves too.
>>
>> Being 60 Km away from Nairobi City - 20 minutes by train -- Konza City
will
>> intitally feed off the Nairobi Metropolitan Area (over 50% of the Kenyan
>> economy at the moment). It also happens to be on Mombasa Rd too and can
>> become a Tourist Point too.
>>
>> In 2007, Eastern Kenya was generally innocent of ethnic cleansing, though
>> they will become more hostile with the influx of ''outsiders".
>>
>>
http://www.the-star.co.ke/national/national/58176-cement-company-secretly-acquired-44000-acres-in-kitui-claims-ngilu
>>
>> Other Technology Parks should be planned / developed to serve Firms
wishing
>> to locate in parts of Kenya not too hostile to them.
>>
>> Final note below:
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 9:36 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Strathmore University on the other hand went for the LEED certification
>>> right from design stage, please send me the section in the Konza master
plan
>>> where LEED certification is mentioned as a requirement?  We both
listened to
>>> the presentation about Hydrabad and the issues that arose relating to
its
>>> development how they where handled, why is it that you refuse to carry
out a
>>> SWOT analysis on the Konza project?  We need to move beyond dreaming
towards
>>> the reality that is the Kenya we have.
>>>
>>
>> I approached Paul Kukubo at the Konza City briefing to ask about Local
>> Universities. Strathmore University was the only one he mentioned as
meeting
>> the criteria they have set for Konza City.
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Brian Munyao Longwe
> e-mail: blongwe at gmail.com
> cell:  +254715964281
> blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
> meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com

-- 
Brian Munyao Longwe
e-mail: blongwe at gmail.com
cell:  +254715964281
blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com
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