Established in 1990, the Coast Development Authority (CDA) has as its prime objective the improvement of the living standards of all people of Kenya’s Coast region without impairing their resource potential.
This is why CDA targets self-sufficiency in food production, creation of wealth from available resources and provision of meaningful opportunities for public participation and development on a sustainable basis as key drivers of this objective.
From the outset, it is clear that the accent is on the Authority’s use of the resources available in its area of jurisdiction to achieve its objective. The sea and basin feature prominently in the Authority’s on-going (see Best of Kenya Volume I), planned and envisaged projects.
The Indian Ocean offers Kenya unique opportunities which the CDA seeks to exploit and add to its growing portfolio of development projects, according to Mr James Kahindi Mangi, the Managing Director.
“We plan to generate wind and wave energy. Yes, high tides can be used to generate electricity, but as things stand now they go to waste. This resource is unique to us and we intend to enter into a public/ private partnership with investors to use it to generate power.”
The other opportunity the sea offers Kenya is ship-building. This is an industry that has been instrumental in the rise of South Korea and Singapore as economic tigers. China is also on the rise as a major ship-building country.
Ship-building therefore is on the CDA cards as a project that will fundamentally change the economy of the Coast region and Kenya as a whole. CDA plans to introduce tax holidays for ship-builders in order to attract investors.
The Authority has also turned its attention to reviving cashew nut processing at the Coast. CDA recognises this as a very lucrative industry as is evidenced from the proceeds of the many small-scale operations.
CDA plans to bring all these small-scale farmers together, preferably under a cooperative society, and build factories for them, help in capacity building, market their produce for them and put the industry back on a profitable and self-sustaining footing.
The same goes for rice and maize farmers. The region under CDA’s jurisdiction grows a lot of rice and maize, but there are not enough mills to turn this into commercial farming. CDA will irrigate the land and give farmers seeds to enable them to take advantage of this opportunity.
“We have the resources — all the big rivers, apart from Nzoia, pour into our region and you have noticed recently that when the snow on Mt Kilimanjaro melts it drains into Kenya. We have the potential to pump a lot of water into our towns which now depend on boreholes.”
In this regard, among the planned riverbased initiatives CDA is keen on include the Mwache Dam Multi-purpose Development Project in Kinango District, which will create a dam for irrigation as well as generate hydro-electric power.
It will also be important for distribution of water for domestic use. Similar projects planned are the Sabaki River Integrated Development Programme on the Sabaki River near Malindi and the Lake Chala Integrated Water Resource Project in Taita Taveta.
It will also be important for distribution of water for domestic use. Similar projects planned are the Sabaki River Integrated Development Programme on the Sabaki River near Malindi and the Lake Chala Integrated Water Resource Project in Taita Taveta.
The beauty of this planned project is that its success will in turn give rise to many other industries on which it will depend to grow and thrive. These will in turn lead to creation of jobs in the region and therefore increase its competitive edge with regard to wages and raising the living standards of the people.
Ship-building will contribute significantly to Vision 2030, the Government’s blueprint for transforming Kenya into a Middle Income Country (MIC) by 2030. According to Mangi, ship-building will also enable Kenya to grow its economy at a rate higher than the projected 7 per cent per year that is crucial to realisation of the Vision.
CDA believes that the concept of a free port is one whose time has come and this should enable the Coast region and Kenya as a country to not only compete with Dubai, for example, but also have a competitive edge over neighbours with whom it shares the Indian Ocean.
A ship-building industry will go in tandem with a free port.
Also on the CDA cards is deep sea fishing, because, as Mangi tells it, Kenya’s fishing industry is not developed. Towards this end CDA seeks to work jointly with the Government to license investors to help develop the industry. This way CDA will ensure that fish farming flourishes as will aquaculture.
While Kenya’s Coast is world famous as a tourist destination, CDA says there is still a lot that needs to be done to maintain and improve on this status of the region. This is also occasioned by the fact that competition for Africa-bound tourists is stiff, with Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda giving Kenya a run for its money.
Improvement of tourism will increase hotel and, or bed capacity. This is why CDA plans to buy some of the hotels which have been closed, rehabilitate them and bring them back to working condition. This will create jobs for the local people and bring in foreign exchange.
The work to be done involves cleaning up of the beaches and seashore so that Kenya’s can compete with the white beaches of Australia. CDA takes the view that hoteliers would be interested in funding this clean-up because it will have a bearing on the number of visitors and therefore bed capacity.
Kenya’s Coast region has an abundance of fruits, especially mangoes, but fruit processing as an industry has yet to be developed. CDA’s work in this area is cut out because most of the produce is not put to commercial use. CDA is committed to constructing self-sustaining fruit processing industries.
The Authority has also turned its attention to reviving cashew nut processing at the Coast. CDA recognises this as a very lucrative industry as is evidenced from the proceeds of the many small-scale operations.
CDA plans to bring all these small-scale farmers together, preferably under a cooperative society, and build factories for them, help in capacity building, market their produce for them and put the industry back on a profitable and self-sustaining footing
The same goes for rice and maize farmers. The region under CDA’s jurisdiction grows a lot of rice and maize, but there are not enough mills to turn this into commercial farming. CDA will irrigate the land and give farmers seeds to enable them to take advantage of this opportunity.
Regarding irrigation, Mangi is categorical: “We have the resources — all the big rivers, apart from Nzoia, pour into our region and you have noticed recently that when the snow on Mt Kilimanjaro melts it drains into Kenya. We have the potential to pump a lot of water into our towns which now depend on boreholes.”
In this regard, among the planned riverbased initiatives CDA is keen on include the Mwache Dam Multi-purpose Development Project in Kinango District, which will create a dam for irrigation as well as generate hydro-electric power.
It will also be important for distribution of water for domestic use. Similar projects planned are the Sabaki River Integrated Development Programme on the Sabaki River near Malindi and the Lake Chala Integrated Water Resource Project in Taita Taveta.
All these projects aim to enhance sustainable development, food security and poverty eradication by increasing irrigated land for agricultural production and conserving catchments.
The rehabilitation of the Mariakani Milk Scheme is central to CDA’s plan to encourage dairy farmers in Tana River and Ijara as well as commercialise the activity. This will also give rise to animal fattening and their export to the Middle East and elsewhere.