Places

Konza City

Konza City is a futuristic city that will act as a talent pool for Kenya’s innovative minds.

Kenya’s Silicon Savannah

Konza City is a technology park to be constructed in Makueni County, on 5,000 acres. This Sh1.2 trillion project will be a first in the region, and a pool to incubate Kenya’s innovations. It will take 20 years to complete all the phases of this project.

Konza City was commissioned in 2014, and as the construction of access roads begins, Kenyans are eager to see the outcome of this ambitious project, perhaps the most futuristic idea hatched by the government and stakeholders in the ICT industry. It will have a science park, a university, residential and commercial houses, hospitals and schools.

Creation of employment, especially in the IT sector, is one of the long-term benefits of this project. The government hopes to create about 200,000 jobs in this industry. This land, which was previously a ranch, will turn the A109 Road (Nairobi–Mombasa Highway) into one of the busiest in the region.

Local and foreign investors expected to benefit from this project include firms in business process outsourcing, software development, data and call centres as well as manufacturing companies.

The Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KODTA) has 20 years to complete the four phases of Konza City.  This tech city hopes to address the need for a platform where young, innovative Kenyans can mingle with other creative minds, as well as with local and foreign investors to produce and manage startups. A railway line will pass through the city, in order to ease transportation and prevent traffic congestion as is common in Nairobi.

So far, KODTA has undertaken a few projects to implement the first phase of the project. This includes cadastral survey of the area and drilling boreholes.