Building Kenya: Construction Updates

President Ruto promises Sh8.3b to build Kakamega gold refinery and granite plant

For the purpose of building the long-stalled Kakamega Gold Refinery in the Ikolomani constituency, the government has given Sh5.8 billion. President William Ruto declared that construction on the refinery plant will restart "any time from now" in remarks made following the formal opening of the Kakamega International Investment Conference. Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) is hosting the county's first four-day conference.

“The government has released Sh5.8 billion for the construction of the gold refinery. This will enable Kakamega to mine and process the precious mineral locally and only take it to the market after value addition.

“We want to get value for every coin we spend, and for us to spur the growth of the county economy we must make meaningful investments whose impact will be felt by everybody,” said President Ruto.

 Photo by Benard Lusigi, Standard

Acacia Mining, a British company that conducted exploration in the area, discovered 1.31 million ounces of gold resources valued at Sh171 billion along the Lirhanda corridor, which is where gold was discovered in Kakamega.
The Lirhanda corridor passes through the counties of Kisumu, Siaya, Vihiga, and Busia, starting in Kakamega.
According to Shanta Gold, a gold producer and explorer located in East Africa, there are gold resources in the Kakamega-Busia gold belt, which spans at least 1,160 square kilometers, that are believed to be worth $2 billion.
Governor Fernandes Barasa, the host, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Trade Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano, and her Mining counterpart Salim Mvurya accompanied Ruto.
Governors Wilber Ottichilo (Vihiga) and Paul Otuoma (Busia) were among the others.

The President also said that Sh2.5 billion had been released by the government to finish and outfit the granite factory in Vihiga and that instead of Kenya being a net importer, the county will soon be exporting granite products in the region. 

“The factory that is being constructed on a five-acre parcel of land will see more than 1,000 people get direct jobs and create 3,000 indirect jobs once it starts crushing stones for granite,” said Ruto.

The president further stated that a Sh10 billion electricity transmission line from Kibos in Kisumu to Kakamega with multiple sub-stations is being built in an effort to draw investors to the region.

“We want to ensure we have reliable electricity in Kakamega. We are at the final stages of the project under the public-private partnership. This will stabilise power supply in the county and the region at large.

“We want to bring investments in our counties and make them a destination for investments. We are moving from being counties of immense potential by harnessing it,” he said.

In addition to stating that legislators in both the national and local legislatures should be working on supportive laws to promote economic growth, Musalia Mudavadi noted that the time has come for counties to make significant investments to raise the living standards of the populace.

“We have 72 factories owned by Kenya Tea Development Authority nationally but in Western, with the same rain like that in Nandi with seven tea factories, Kericho with eight factories and Kisii with many, but in Western, we have only one,” said Mudavadi.