Do you have a lead on a newsworthy story? Share news tips with us here at Hivisasa!

Kisii county government has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Chinese investor to invest Sh12 billion in building Kisii New City.

This comes after the inaugural Kisii Entrepreneurship Summit(KES). The real estate firm, Moke Gardens is the local partner in the project.

On Tuesday Kisii, county governor James Ongwae and the firm’s Managing director Jack Liu signed the MoU in a ceremony witnessed by chief officer for trade and industry in Kisii county John Obwocha and Moke Gardens Managing director Harun Nyamboki.

In the project, Boleyn Magic Wall Panel Limited will construct 2,000 units of houses to meet the housing demand for public servants and the general public in Kisii county.

According to the report, the new city will include residence, bank buildings, office buildings, shopping mall, kindergarten, schools and a health centre as well as a city hall.

The firm will also set up one pre-cast plant in Kisii county that will train 1,000 youth and women for employment in the first year. The plant will serve 13 counties in the lake region economic bloc.

“I would like to thank the investor for coming to Kisii and expressing interest in building the new city in Kisii county,” said Ongwae.

“we have laid the necessary arrangements and we are now ready for take off in order to spur development," he said.

"Working with the county assembly, we will do our best to avail the land and any other support for the investor,” added Ongwae.

The project is set to start in the next six months.

“I am grateful for this opportunity to invest in Kisii. Indeed, upgrading the people’s standards of living is the core duty of the county government and we shall partner with them to achieve this goal," said Liu.

"We shall move with speed to form our teams to ensure the project is implemented as per plan,” added Liu.

The project will be a major boost to the  county''s  economy as it will create 1,000 direct jobs and over 20,000 indirect jobs.