President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that the government wants to make Mombasa a central point for Kenyan industries.
Speaking in Mombasa on Monday, Uhuru said that contrary to opposition allegations that the coast region had been forgotten, his administration has greater plans for the region.
“So we want Mombasa to become a central point where all goods manufactured across our country arrive and are exported to the destinations in the rest of the world as opposed to Mombasa being purely a port where we just receive goods for our people to consume,” said President Kenyatta.
President Kenyatta was speaking at State House, Mombasa, during an interview with journalists.
He said allegations by the opposition that the Naivasha dry port will minimize operations at the Mombasa port are misplaced, saying they are afraid that their dubious businesses at the port will close down.
The President said his Administration also plans to put up industrial parks at Dongo Kundu, Voi, Konza, Naivasha and Kisumu where goods for export will be manufactured and transported through the Standard Gauge Railway to the Mombasa port for shipping across the globe.
“The difference between us in Jubilee and our friends, whom you know their businesses here, is that we want to build an industrial base in Kenya where we export what we produce as opposed to consuming what others produce,” said the President.