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Konza City featured on K24 all week this week
Chaka
#101 Posted : Tuesday, April 10, 2012 5:51:40 PM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 2/16/2007
Posts: 2,114
Did Ndemo say when the ground breaking will take place?
madhaquer
#102 Posted : Tuesday, April 10, 2012 10:59:13 PM
Rank: Member

Joined: 11/10/2010
Posts: 281
Location: Nairobi
If you ask me, the govt should find a better way of developing ict in the country by for example developing a basic computer science curriculum for high schools and ensuring all schools in the country have a computer lab.

Throwing that cash into the purchase of land without commitment from potential buyers is speculation. That is not the govt's business. In a capitalist system, the private sector speculates, the government facilitates.
Kenyans should keep their fingers crossed and pray this will not be a ghost city.
murchr
#103 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 2:29:19 AM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 2/26/2012
Posts: 15,980
madhaquer wrote:
If you ask me, the govt should find a better way of developing ict in the country by for example developing a basic computer science curriculum for high schools and ensuring all schools in the country have a computer lab.

Throwing that cash into the purchase of land without commitment from potential buyers is speculation. That is not the govt's business. In a capitalist system, the private sector speculates, the government facilitates.
Kenyans should keep their fingers crossed and pray this will not be a ghost city.



The last time i checked students taking KCSE had an were examined computer courses. This is a project spanning to the year 2030. More is being done thats why there are calls to revamp the education sector.

Why are you assuming there is no commitment? So far 18 unis want the science edu park. Here is an example of the Korean version http://en.wikipedia.org/...ngbuk_Free_Economic_Zone
"There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
.
madhaquer
#104 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 9:07:57 AM
Rank: Member

Joined: 11/10/2010
Posts: 281
Location: Nairobi
@murchr:
1. There are a select few high schools in Kenya with computer labs, that does not mean universal access or equal opportunity.
2. The fact that there is an exam to sit after 4 years means we should be churning out a fair percentage of whiz kids from this, not just typists, gamers and microsoft addicts.
3. If 18 universities want a chunk, does it justify 5000 acres ? I wonder if the govt will be building a single secondary school there or Is it actually the cart before the horse ?
a4architect.com
#105 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 9:14:41 AM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
madhaquer wrote:
If you ask me, the govt should find a better way of developing ict in the country by for example developing a basic computer science curriculum for high schools and ensuring all schools in the country have a computer lab.

Throwing that cash into the purchase of land without commitment from potential buyers is speculation. That is not the govt's business. In a capitalist system, the private sector speculates, the government facilitates.
Kenyans should keep their fingers crossed and pray this will not be a ghost city.


@madhaquer..true

Tax payer money at Treasury is wealth generated from production by Kenyans.

Ministry of Info buying land from the same Kenyans using their money =zero sum to the economy.

Ministry of Info can only increase tax payer amount if it sells the land to foreigners=FDI.

By selling to foreigners, this becomes an EPZ model.

Silicon valley developed when citizens created wealth from ICT production.
Konza can only develop when Kenyan citizens create wealth through ICT innovation.

In an EPZ model, Konza will only assist other multinationals in creating their wealth by offering cheap labour,land e.t.c.

Assisting multinationals to create their wealth through efficient productivity results in Kenyan ICT companies facing stiff competition .

Its akin to scoring an own goal.

No country in the world has ever developed by assisting other countries to create wealth.

Countries develop when they create wealth.

Wealth is created when a country ensures factors of production, including land are low to its citizens.


Kenyans employed by Multinationals at Konza will only earn low pea nut wages hence no gain to the economy.

Multinationals will always find a way to repatriate their profits.

Ndemo should come out clear and tell us how the country intends to gain from inviting Multinationals if the model is based on EPZ.

If the Konza model is based on the Silicon Valley model, Ndemo should tell us how production costs will be reduced for kenyan ICT industry for them to be successful.

Also, its not clear on how Ministry of Info will recoup money spent on the project eg buying land, infrastructure costs when Multinationals work within the EPZ model and are leased the land at cost.
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
a4architect.com
#106 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 9:39:33 AM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi


@murchr..
the Korean version is a series of small EPZ zones in different locations as opposed to a monolith.

Since Ministry of Info's model seems similar to the EPZ model, the land between Athi River and EPZ, around 500 acres, is still vacant.

EPZ is already established there.

Ministry of Info should have looked into an option of co-establishing within the Kitengela EPZ.

This could have freed the KES 1B tax payer money for a more direct infrastructure investment in to ICT sector.


Economists here in Wazua can tell us of benefits to the economy derived by the EPZ model.


EPZA Kenya

http://www.epzakenya.com...nya.php?cat=3&sub=8

Quote:
Overview

The Athi River Export Processing Zone was gazetted on 23 rd November 1990. It was the the first publicly developed zone and covers 339 hectares of land including 229 hectares of the main site, LR. No 18474 in Athi River (Mavoko). The zone was developed at a cost of US$ 30 million with a World Bank (IDA) line of credit (80%) and with contribution from the Government of Kenya (20%). The zone was designed to provide infrastructure and services for export oriented industries within the zone and ancillary services to the wider community in Mavoko and Kitengela .

In this regard, the project is more than an industrial park; it is an urban development
project with various facets.

The site was selected because it had a number of advantages – the land was suitable for drainage and sewerage works; the site was easily accessible by two major highways (Nairobi-Mombasa and Nairobi-Namanga); was close to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport; was adjacent to the main Nairobi –Mombasa railway line; was close enough to Athi River town and Nairobi cityand yet had adequate undeveloped land in the vicinity for future planned development. Phase 1 of the zone was completed in 1997 covering 93 of the 292 hectares of the main site.

EPZ Kenya

http://www.diplomateasta...ering-the-common-market

Quote:
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) Chief Executive Officer, Betty Maina reportedly as saying that allowing EPZs to sell a major chunk of their produce in the market is similar to allowing them sell their bulk domestically.

“What with the 10-year tax holiday that they enjoy besides other exemptions, reduced import duty and waivers for promotion of exports. The competition would only be unfair and untenable if the local manufacturers were to be subjected to competition with these enterprises which enjoy greater advantages,” she said.


http://www.businessdaily...n/-/al4nb7/-/index.html

Quote:
EPZ companies have also come under heavy criticism for allegedly setting up operations in Kenya to benefit from the 10-year tax holiday, which exempts the operators from paying income tax, only to close shop at expiry of the grace period.
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
a4architect.com
#107 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:17:48 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
As described below by Mason Gaffney,It seems its a global problem whereby Land Economists are not taught how to integrate financial economics and vice versa.

In Konza city, Ministry of Info is therefore left without proper advisory apart from Worldbank/IFC economists hence tax payer loss.


Mason Gaffney below describes it as some kind of conspiracy.

I describe it as an opportunity for a new subject/profession which can develop into a major career to be taught in universities,similar to land economics.

http://www.wealthandwant...cs/Gaffney_LaaDFoP.html

here is a subdiscipline called "Land Economics," and a journal of that name. There are journals of Agricultural Economics, Urban Economics, Regional Science, Environmental Economics, Natural Resources, and more.
The subdisciplines are kept away from the "core" and "mainstream" of economic thinking by compartmentalization and colonialization.

Patronizing "land economics" as a colonial discipline keeps potentially contagious movements within the empire, where they can absorb critical tendencies under watchful control, while yet remaining safely remote, in the outskirts of the system. Orthodoxy flows out from the core, communicated via mandatory "core courses." Land economics is banished from the "commanding heights" of money and banking, macropolicy, and required "basic" courses in methodology and micro theory.



As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
jamplu
#108 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:56:58 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 3/25/2010
Posts: 939
Location: Nai
@a4architect.com the Billion spent on land @ Konza is already spent
there is no way this can be reversed so lets focus on the other aspects of the city.
if the next govt will consider the project not viable then they can as well leave it to the people around there to graze as they used to or give it to IDP's
a4architect.com
#109 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 4:18:05 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
@jamplu..true.
Lets use the situation to brainstorm and hope that the knowledge can be utilized in other sectors of the economy.

Its now clear that there is no clear branch of knowledge/education that brings land economics together with Financial economics. Most of the knowledge will have to be self-generated.

We can therefore not blame Ministry of Info for such complex land investments vis a vis the economy.

In the concept of Govt buying land from its citizens then selling it back, hypothetically speaking, what would prevent the Govt from agreeing on the sale price, signing the sale contract then printing kes 1 b at central bank/de la rue ?

This will cause inflation of the same ammount hence sellers will hold kes 1 b without as much value as in the case when they sell to a private entity who has no access to the central bank.

These could be the reasons that in capitalist economies, Govt is not supposed to compete with citizens in biz coz it has an upper hand.
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
alma
#110 Posted : Wednesday, April 11, 2012 4:35:20 PM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 7/20/2007
Posts: 4,432
a4architect.com wrote:


@madhaquer..true
.

Silicon valley developed when citizens created wealth from ICT production.
Konza can only develop when Kenyan citizens create wealth through ICT innovation.

In an EPZ model, Konza will only assist other multinationals in creating their wealth by offering cheap labour,land e.t.c.

Assisting multinationals to create their wealth through efficient productivity results in Kenyan ICT companies facing stiff competition .

Its akin to scoring an own goal.

No country in the world has ever developed by assisting other countries to create wealth.

Countries develop when they create wealth.

Wealth is created when a country ensures factors of production, including land are low to its citizens.

Kenyans employed by Multinationals at Konza will only earn low pea nut wages hence no gain to the economy.

Multinationals will always find a way to repatriate their profits.



I remember Michael Joseph agreeing that this type of model is not good for Kenya and I hated seeing myself agree with him....i hate safcom.

I'm a land economist by training and I have major misconceptions about the issue of Gov't buying land and reselling to citizens. Kiamba was my lecturer. But pls remember he went into political appointments eons ago.

Saying that since it has happened, lets allow it to go on is even more dangerous.

We pay beuracrats money to think.

I have yet to see any argument anywhere online or offline on the ICT issue. I know lamu will be useful since the port will have economic activity, turkana coz of oil, nairobi coz of gov't activity.

what about Konza. what economic activity is going to make a 20 story building stay full? Not Ict as I've not seen any ICT firm filling up the spaces available in Nairobi yet.
Jose: If I make it through this thug life, I'll see you one day. The Lord is the only way to stop the hurt.
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