The Voi Special Export Zone is set for take-off. The County Government of Taita Taveta handed over 240 acres of land in Voi Sub County to the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) towards the project.
“What is happening today is a nod from the county and national governments for work to begin. We welcome this with both hands and look forward to our people reaping benefits. The 240 acres is just the beginning of our cooperation to create a vibrant economy pedestalled on local products and creating employment and opportunities for the people,” said Taita Taveta County Governor Granton Samboja.
Key sectors
The project aims to bring under economic use on completion and in addition to satellite production hubs spread across the other three sub-counties of Mwatate, Taveta, and Taita. According to the Memorandum of Cooperation between the two tiers of government and EPZA, the key sectors that will be boosted by the presence of the processing zone will be the textile, agro-processing, leather, manufacturing, and automotive assembling industries.
The county executive for agriculture Davis Mwangoma said the devolved unit is keen to revive the once booming cotton farming in Taveta and the dry parts of Taita sub-county, with farmers already warming up to the new opportunity to diversify crops.
“In the second quarter of 2021, the county, in partnership with the national government and international donors had begun an exercise to revive old ginneries, collapsed cooperative societies, and the distribution of early-maturity hybrid cotton seeds,” said Mwangoma.
The Special Processing Zone is in tandem with the national government’s agenda of creating and expanding manufacturing capabilities in all 47 counties. Investors are expected to come on board as soon as the project takes shape with the support of the national government to create an attractive foreign investment environment.
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