https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Kenya revives steel manufacturing plans

4th July 2014

By: John Muchira

Creamer Media Correspondent

  

Font size: - +

Kenya has revived plans to set up an inte-grated iron and steel manufacturing plant to fuel an industrial explosion as part of ambitions to transform itself into a middle-income economy.
After several false starts, government has set in motion the process to establish the plant, which is touted as the foundation of a manufacturing sector, one of the key pillars of the country’s Vision 2030 development master plan.

The Ministry of Industrialisation, through State-owned Numerical Machining Complex, has put out an expression of interest seeking a consultant to undertake a commercial and technical feasibility study on the plant.
“Government is keen on promoting the manu-facturing sector so that it can play its crucial role of transforming and developing the country into a newly industrialising economy,” says the Ministry in a statement.
It adds that an iron and steel plant is critical for the development of Kenya, particularly when the country is implementing Vision 2030 projects, most of which are infrastructural in nature.
The Kenya government has already set aside 1 200 acres of land on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, where the proposed plant will be located.
Over the last decade, there have been at least four failed attempts to establish a steel plant.

In 2011, government signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean steel company Posco to implement the steel plant but the agreement remained just on paper. Posco is the third-largest steel company in the world.
The renewed plans to establish the plant come at a time when demand for iron and steel in Kenya is expected to rise significantly, particularly as the East African nation and its neighbours construct a new standard-gauge railway line covering a distance of 3 000 km from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa to Kampala, in Uganda, and onwards to Kigali, in Rwanda.
Kenya currently depends on steel imports, which increased in value by more than 100% over the last seven years – from $263-million to $678,3-million a year.
Though there are a total 260 registered steel and metal product manufacturers in Kenya, the metal industry is broadly classified as steel smelting and hot rolling, wire and wiring products, galvanised products and cold-rolled steel products and pipes.
Government statistics indicated that Kenya’s annual demand for steel is estimated at between 480 000 t and 600 000 t a year.
South Africa is the only country with a vibrant steel production industry in Africa. Last year, the country’s production stood at about 600 000 t.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

VEGA Controls SA (Pty) Ltd
VEGA Controls SA (Pty) Ltd

For over 60 years, VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight and pressure. As the inventor of the...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Hanna Instruments Image
Hanna Instruments (Pty) Ltd

We supply customers with practical affordable solutions for their testing needs. Our products include benchtop, portable, in-line process control...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.061 0.11s - 137pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now