Photo/business dailyTrans Nzoia County has suffered a major blow after investors pulled out over acute land shortage for industrial development. Ruining plans to set up a multibillion shilling maize milling and animal feed production.
This information came from The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) that disclosed that investors from Turkey were reluctant to pump millions of shillings to purchase land to set up the the Sh2 billion plant.Laban onditi the KNCCI national vice chairman and director for the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZ) said, “The investors have made it clear that they will not spend any money to buy land for the project in the area and are instead willing to relocate to a different region ”. The purpose of the project was to boost agri-business in maize growing counties in the North Rift region by offering a ready market for the cereal.In addition Mr Onditi said scarcity of land was scaring away investors and derailed the government's plan to realise industrialisation and vision 2030.Without revealing the identity of the investors Mr Onditi said , “There is need for the county government to avail land which is a major factor in setting up of manufacturing firms and employment creation ”.However he revealed that a group of investors had expressed willingness to establish multi-million shilling agro-processing plants for value addition on cereals and dairy produce from the region.