Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru is at an advanced stage of setting up a smart city, which will become one of a kind in Central Kenya.
Speaking on Friday, January 27, Waiguru stated that she is pushing to have the Sagana Industrial City gazetted as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
According to the second term Kirinyaga governor, the Sagana Industrial City will have agro-processing industries constructed by investors.
The Smart City will be connected by various road projects, which will be constructed in collaboration with President William Ruto's administration.
Besides having roads, the city will support various agricultural projects which will be climate compliant.
Sagana Industrial City is also touted to have various housing projects supported by the government under the affordable housing initiative.
According to Waiguru, the proposed Sagana Industrial City will also have various sports facilities, such as a golf course.
The project which will be set up on a 250-acre piece of land is also set to offer numerous job opportunities by establishing agro-processing industries and other development units in Kirinyaga.
To avoid setbacks, Waiguru revealed that she had started benchmarking exercises to get the best tips on setting up the Smart City.
"Our county executive and assembly teams came with me to expand our vision with the progress made at Tatu Industrial City,” Waiguru stated.
“Already, we have set aside 20 acres for construction of affordable housing units, which the national government will be putting up,” she added.
The project is set to rival the Tatu City project in Kiambu County, which was touted to cost north of Ksh200 billion.
Tatu City hosts projects such as residential houses, schools, warehouses, a light aircraft airstrip and processing industries.
"We have started going out to see what other people have done. We will be starting where Tatu City started from which was a bit smaller," Waiguru stated after a benchmarking trip at Tatu City.
"We have come to learn so that we do not make the mistakes they made at the beginning and have a smooth start," she insisted.
