[kictanet] Looking back at Konza

[robert yawe]

Mbuvi,

What the article reveals is that however "far we have come" we are on a circular track which means that we keep seeing a repeat of the same scenery.

“There is significant demand. Companies have already approached us looking for incentives or joint partnership opportunities to start operations in Athi River,” said Dr Ndemo. 
 
With technology ones words have a way of coming back to haunt them the statement above was made in 2007, if you change the Athi River to Konza . . . .

Regards


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


Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696


________________________________
 From: Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi at gmail.com>
To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk 
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Sent: Sunday, 26 February 2012, 0:37
Subject: [kictanet] Looking back at Konza
 

Looking at recent discussions on the list on Konza, one can forget how far the concept has come, and evolved

Kenya build Sh67bn digital city 
Written by Kui Kinyanjui 
31-August-2007: The governments of Kenya and the United Arab Emirates 
(UAE) have entered into a Sh67 billion partnership to establish East 
Africa’s first digital city.

Athi River town on the outskirts of Nairobi has been earmarked for the 
project that will be modelled on the successes of Dubai Internet City. 

The initiative is expected to create new jobs as major corporations set 
up base and use local resources to conduct their business. 

Besides, proponents of the project say it will position the country as a
 regional base for manufacture and development of ICT products.

“Kenya has seen an increasing number of foreign ICT companies set up 
offices in Nairobi that they intend to use as entry points to the 
regional market,”  Dr Bitange Ndemo, the Permanent Secretary in the 
Ministry of Information,  said.

The partnership for the project was formed at the request of the UAE 
government and has seen the two governments draft a memorandum of 
understanding that is currently before the Attorney-General. Two Middle 
Eastern companies have expressed interest in undertaking the project. 

“There is significant demand.  Companies have already approached us 
looking for incentives or joint partnership opportunities to start 
operations in Athi River,” said Dr Ndemo.

In the last few years, several companies have opened regional bases in 
the country, including Microsoft, Nokia, HP, Ericcson and Cisco, all of 
whom have all cited the region’s relevance as the biggest emerging 
market for ICT products . 

Athi River —located just 50 kilometres from Nairobi City Centre — is 
currently a hub for several industries, including cement firms, 
manufacturing concerns and is home to an export processing zone (EPZ). 

It’s conversion into a fully fledged ICT city could transform the dusty town into the main industrial base of the country.

However, the proposed digital city will face challenges that reflect the
 wider needs of the country as it increasingly relies on the ICT 
industry to drive economic growth, which according to a recent African 
Development Bank report, is expected to reach its highest levels in 20 
years driven by the new sector.

Those challenges include an acute shortage of trained IT workers and inadequate infrastructure. 

In response to that need and the development of other ICT driven 
industries such as the business process outsourcing sector, the 
government plans to heavily invest in beefing up the country’s 
infrastructure to increase access to internet-related services. 

It also aims to increase of technology content in  the school curriculum
 and is currently offering subsidized bandwith to universities to 
encourage e-learning.

Source - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=483232&page=6

-- 
with Regards:


blog.denniskioko.com


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