East Africa projects in 2015 amounted to Sh5.8 trillion

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 18 – East Africa had 20 percent of all projects in Africa accounting for $57.5 billion (Sh5.8 trillion) in 2015 according to a new report by Deloitte African Construction Trends.

The report indicates that Kenya had the highest number projects in the region with 20 projects followed by Ethiopia with 12 projects.

Two thirds of projects are old status, with a third representing new and on-going projects.

Transport development features in 51 percent of projects in the region followed by Energy and Power sectors that had 30 percent of projects while water projects were 8 percent and Social Development had 4 percent.

“East Africa is increasingly being pegged as the African region that could swing the developmental pendulum faster towards growth. As far as infrastructure building and expansion goes, the east of the continent presents a story of progress. There is renewed optimism building in the region, yet it remains vulnerable and requires the right checks and balances,” the report states.

Projects are almost exclusively owned by the government, which owns 85 percent of the region’s developments.

Governments are involved in the construction of 36 percent of these projects, followed by China at 21 percent.

Among the top ten projects in the offing in the region include Kenya’s East Africa Railway (US$13bn), Tanzania’s Port of Bagamoyo (US$11bn), Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (US$4.7bn), Djibouti 470km Electric Railway(US$4bn), Kenya’s Mombasa to Malaba Standard Gauge Railway Line Transport (US$3.8bn).

Others include; Uganda’s Karuma Power Station Energy and Power(US$ 2.2bn), Ethiopia’s Potash Railway Transport (US$1.5bn), Kenya’s Eastern Electricity Highway Project Energy and Power (US$ 1.2bn), Tanzania’s Songo Songo Gas and Electricity Project Energy and Power (US$1.2bn) and Kenya’s Lamu Berths Transport (US$ 1bn).

“East Africa is attracting significantly more interest from the private sector. Global investment confidence in the region is on the rise due to governmental stances such as that of the President of Kenya, who is bullish on weeding out corruption,” the report indicates.

The region the report states, offers significant potential growth through future oil and gas fields although such projects continue at a sluggish pace.

“Upstream oil and gas has huge investment potential, however there remains many moving parts that depend on governmental policies to drive impetus,” the report states.